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Write about someone who is given a bird for the holidays but doesn’t know how to take care of it.

Posted in Holiday on Jul 27, 2021

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✍️ 198 stories

Burt Brain

Winner of Contest #73 🏆

There’s no sound on earth quite like a bird flying into a sliding glass door. Unlike the white noise of mass extinctions and vanishing rainforests, the singular thud of delicate avian bones against shatter-resistant Duraplex glass is impossible to ignore. It's the sound of the natural and man-made worlds colliding, like the off-key fervor of a bronze temple gong struck by a fresh-faced initiate. Burt Frumbder was savoring the second sip of his first cup of coffee when this one-of-a-kind sound made him jump, spilling this same cup of cof...

324 likes 134 comments 134
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The Dove

Submitted to Contest #73

The plane lifted off smoothly and Toronto began to disappear beneath the wind blown clouds. Kyrie rested her forehead against the greasy plastic window and watched the patchwork of fields, the ribbons of rivers, the buttons of moors, blur beneath the jet. It was a quiet Christmas Eve flight with little turbulence, but for Kyrie it seemed to last forever. The desire to get quickly home surprised her, since whenever she was at home she wished to be away. Her home, the tired five-room apartment with grey walls and handful of smudged windows, on...

101 likes 29 comments 29
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'M' is for Monday

Submitted to Contest #73

***NOT part 2 for “The Unofficial Student.”***Judie gazes at the mirroring glass, having pity and sorrow for the divine creature nearby. Its body tilts to the direction of the right, so Judie could see the drooping arctic wing that reminds her of a shriveling, single petal of a blue rose. She wishes to help the bird soar in the air, high above the thickening forests belonging to the sky. The bird hangs its head, entwining the guilt in Judie’s warm fingers.Her mother had died two days before Christmas, thus, all of the enthusiasm to open the ...

86 likes 43 comments 43
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Betrayal

Submitted to Contest #73

“Mr. Nicholas, you have been caught for breaking and entering every house in the world once a year for as long as anyone can remember.” That was what the judge said. “Anything to say in your defence?”  “Y-your honour, I was delivering presents! For children they were happy.” Stuttered Santa. “Liar, you gave me a toy doll when I was twelve years old!” Yelled an adult. “Well I thought you wanted one.” said Santa wondering if this was a nightmare. “And you didn't wipe your feet on the mat when you came in.” said a very tall and skinny woma...

76 likes 28 comments 28
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The King of Carrion

Submitted to Contest #73

Although he loved her from afar, she sized him up fairly quickly, determined him to be reliable, then volunteered him to watch her cockatoo for the holiday break. “I’ll be back next week. Its food is in the plastic bag. If you could, give it some fruit once or twice a day,” she said breezily over her shoulder, as if parenting parrots came naturally. “What type of fruit—” he tried to ask her. As the door slammed on her way out, the parrot gave an ear-splitting chirp. He looked at the bird, waiting for it to stop. But the bird chirpe...

71 likes 40 comments 40
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To Raise a Mockingbird

Submitted to Contest #73

Step One: Get a cage and some bird food from a pet store.Maybe she found it funny that I was an English teacher. Maybe, she was like one of those elderly ladies who, instead of 200 cats, had 200 birds sitting in her basement. Either way, the bird didn’t come with an instruction manual, or in a wrapped box. It was sold online by Bitmouse, on Holiday Realty. My townhouse had been abandoned for months before I inherited it from some long-lost uncle, the townhouse residing in a strange town with a small school building surrounded by green s...

70 likes 18 comments 18
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Clipped Wings

Submitted to Contest #73

I stood in the kitchen next to my mother, helping her put the finishing touches on dinner. I could hear my father laughing his hearty laugh in the kitchen, everyone else was silent...he must have told one of his jokes. I carried the casserole and the asparagus, and my mother took the chicken. We had to make several trips. People were smiling and talking and being friendly. I could see my dad going around graciously filling everyone’s glasses. The more they drank, the funnier he got. The last dish we carried to the table was red jello. ...

47 likes 23 comments 23
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Setting you free

Submitted to Contest #73

You know, it's one thing to buy someone a cheap card from the store. Hasty and unoriginal, yet oddly comforting to know they care about you. The sentiment of being tracked down after final bell, thrown into a moving vehicle, and being given a mysterious object? Not so much. This sounds like the beginning of an action movie. Contrary to popular belief, I am, in fact, not being kidnapped. Of course, I know where I'm going all the same. Bob clenches the wheel with a bright grin, his faded white shirt with the words "You only live once" meticulo...

46 likes 28 comments 28
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The Unexpected Visit

Submitted to Contest #73

Title: The Unexpected VisitBy: HaripriyaAuthors Note: Hello everyone! I hope you're having a great Friday! I had a lot of fun writing this story and I hope you all have a great time reading it as well!Dear grandpa,I miss you. I want to come and visit, but mom's never free. She says she has a lot of work to do, so I feel like I can never meet you. It's been almost two years since I saw you, grandpa. I know your leg is not fine, and you can't visit us, but still, I miss seeing your face. I miss your bear hugs and your hot chocolates. The last ...

45 likes 78 comments 78
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Words of a Feather

Submitted to Contest #73

On the way home from the funeral, Diego lets his wife drive. He’s gone numb from the sight of his mother, devoured by a dusty oak coffin, descending into the earth while bowed heads shed tears into the rain. Camila studies the hollow, unblinking eyes in the rearview mirror and knows this is something far beyond her abilities. She suspects a double helping of chicken tamales, his usual foray into decadence this time of year, would be equally powerless.“Sweetness,” she signals with a smile once they’ve pulled into their driveway and the engine...

45 likes 48 comments 48
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True meaning of Christmas

Submitted to Contest #73

Dear Kate, I am your aunt, you might not be aware of me but I am family. I have seen you as a child, cradled you in my bare hands as you cooed, your mother was a delightful sister to me… I’m sorry for your loss.  We might not be familiar with each other but I want you to do a favor for me. You must have noticed a purple box. Please open it as soon as possible and take care of it for me.  I’m sure you will appreciate it more than me… With love, Your aunt I kept rereading the letter, looking for identifications of its sender. Who cou...

45 likes 49 comments 49
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Lumpy and Rooster

Submitted to Contest #73

Lumpy took the chain between his teeth and jiggled it. It clinked and jingled as chains do, but did not loosen. The horse pricked his ears forward and studied the contraption locking his stall door securely in place. He shifted his hooves and moved his body around to come at it for another approach. A furious jangling reverberated through the barn, drowning out the Christmas carols playing softly through the hidden speakers. The grooms, perched on hay bales outside the stall, leaned forward.“He’s getting it,” whispered Manny.“...

40 likes 22 comments 22
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Sophie

Submitted to Contest #73

Some things happen so quickly that it's hard to figure out if it was a dream or reality. Case in point:After a long day at work, I was pulling carefully into the driveway at home. I just wanted to go inside, stretch out on the living room couch, and relax. I hadn't done the crossword puzzle in today's newspaper. That and a cup of hot chocolate would do me just fine.But moments later, I heard a car skidding on the street behind me. Looking in the rear-view mirror, I saw the car slewing this way and that. The street ended a few houses away in ...

38 likes 118 comments 118
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Cīsō and the Human with the Strange Google History

Submitted to Contest #73

You still remember the day your Google history changed forever, the Christmas where another being entered your perfectly messy home. As a writer, you needed to do a lot of research, you told yourself, as you Googled ‘how to make homemade bomb with febreze can’ and ‘febreze can explosion radius’ and other things the Secret Service would be concerned about. But this all changed, when your mother decided that you were living a disappointment of a life (you starkly disagreed), and got you a bird for Christmas. Writers aren’t meant to take care o...

37 likes 18 comments 18
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The Christmas Love Bird

Submitted to Contest #73

Ben walked very intently down the isles of his favorite local pet shop looking at all of the pets for sale. This was his favorite usual routine that he enjoyed doing about every month or so. He lived in an apartment that had very strict rules against having pets. So as far as Ben was concerned this was as close as he could get to having that feeling of being a pet owner. As a child, Ben had grown up with several different pets ranging from cats, dogs, fish, and even chickens. He grew up on a farm in Northern West Virginia and was no strange...

33 likes 14 comments 14
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