A Pigeon In an Apple Tree

“I’m not sure I can accept this?” I said to my friend who appeared at my door on an oddly warm December day. 

“Come on man, it’s like the song. You know, the pigeon in the apple tree?” He said holding the cage with a pigeon inside up for me to look at. 

“Nate, first of all, it's a partridge in a pear tree, second, I didn’t even know you could even buy a pet pigeon. How am I supposed to take care of it?” I asked incredulously. I looked at the pigeon, it cooed softly as it looked at me sideways.

“Look man, I can’t keep it at my house, my mom hates animals. This was supposed to be for my girlfriend but she didn’t want it,” Nate said.

“I don’t blame her, why can’t you just return it?” I asked.

“Cuz the guy from the flea market I bought it from had a heart attack and died apparently,” Nate said looking down. 

“Oh my gosh, poor random pigeon guy... Ugh. I guess he is pretty cute,” I said looking at the little plump grey pigeon sitting peacefully in the middle of its cage. 

“Isn’t he just precious?” Nate said. “Well, I’ll just leave him here!” He placed the cage on the doorstep. He turned around and started to head out.

“Wait, wait, I never said yes!” I cried out.

“It’s okay, birds are easy to take care of! Good luck!” He got in his car and drove off.

I picked up the cage and peeked at the little pigeon. I put my finger in to try and pet it. The pigeon hopped over and let me stroke its feathers. I smiled at it. But how am I supposed to take care of a pigeon? I can barely take care of myself. 

Pigeons are oddly quiet. The pigeon was sitting on my coffee table in front of my couch. It hadn’t made any noises except for the flapping of its wings to change into a more comfortable position. I have to put a nail in the wall later to hang the cage up. I wondered what the pigeon was thinking. I should probably give him or her a name. I thought for a moment. Since I didn’t know the gender, it would be gender-neutral. Hmm... Then it hit me. 

“Charlie! You’ll be called Charlie. I know boys and girls named Charlie,” I said to the little pigeon.

The pigeon gave a low rumble. I hope that meant Charlie liked the name. 

Charlie was now hanging on the wall across the couch. I couldn’t afford a TV so Charlie was chilling alone on the wall except for a painting of a willow tree I bought at Goodwill. Charlie was sleeping peacefully. I sighed. I couldn’t believe I was taking care of a pigeon. I got up to make some food for myself. I opened the small pantry in my tight kitchen. Ramen again. I really love ramen, but I just wish I had more options sometimes. I started boiling up water for my shrimp ramen. I was waiting by my old, reliable, slightly warped pot when I remembered Charlie. Charlie was probably hungry too. Shoot what do they even eat? I looked it up on my phone. I guess I could buy food from, like, PetSmart? I couldn’t eat in front of Charlie like that, that would be rude. I turned off the stove and headed out to PetSmart. Charlie was still asleep.

“Hey, um, where is the pigeon food?” I asked the old lady stocking dog toys. 

“What was that?” She asked squinting up at me.

“I was wondering where the pigeon food was?” I asked again louder.

“Oh the parrot food is over there.” She pointed at the back of the store. 

“Thank you!” I said loudly.

Parrots were similar to pigeons right? Pigeon food would be around there probably. I walked past the parakeets on the way to the food section. They weren’t as cute as Charlie. I scoffed. 

I found the pigeon food at the very end of the aisle. Seven bucks... I opened my wallet, I had a twenty but it was supposed to last me all week. I sighed. I grabbed the food and headed to the register. It was the same old lady ringing me up. 

“That would be $7.13,” she said.

I handed her my twenty.

“Out of twenty,” She said. 

She slowly opened the register. She shakily put in the twenty. She counted each coin carefully. Wait, why is she only counting pennies? She then dropped all the pennies. 

“Oh my,” She bent down slowly to pick up the pennies.

“Um, actually it’s okay, I don’t need the change,” I said nervously.

“No no, nonsense. I’ll pick them all up for you,” She said.

I sighed. All this for a pigeon I didn’t even want.

Charlie was still asleep by the time I got home. Charlie must have been tired, because I was gone for a while. I walked up to his cage and opened the little hatch slowly. Charlie’s eyes opened suddenly. Charlie stared at me. I froze. I waited a moment, then reached in to grab the white feeding dish hanging on the side of the cage. Then Charlie started flapping around frantically.

“AHH! CHARLIE NO!”

I had to grab and steady the cage before it fell. I Readjusted the hook of Charlie’s cage on the nail. I looked at Charlie. Charlie’s little chest was moving up and down heavily. Thankfully I was able to grab Charlie’s food dish. I opened the new bag of food and scooped some food about half full. I walked up to Charlie’s cage once more. 

“Okay Charlie, please try not to spazz out on me again,” I said.

I slowly slid up the hatch once more. Charlie was eyeing me intensely. Was I feeling fear? From a pigeon?? I took a deep breath. I slowly slid my hand in the cage. I managed to hang the food dish. I slowly slid my hand out and closed the hatch. 

“Thank you Charlie,” I sighed. 

I looked at Charlie. He hopped over to the food. Charlie peeked inside and then looked at me. Charlie kept staring at me expectantly. 

“Oh, are you a shy eater? I understand. I wouldn’t want people to see me slurping my ramen,” I said.

I left to cook my dinner to give Charlie some space. 

I sighed. I hated how early it got dark in the winter. By the time I was done with my luxurious dinner, it was pitch black outside. I had to turn on the living room light. I closed the curtains so nobody could peek at me and Charlie. I walked up to Charlie’s cage again and looked inside. He had eaten most of the food. Charlie cooed softly. 

“You’re lucky you’re cute.” I said to Charlie.

Charlie cooed again. 

“I’m gonna try to pet you again okay? Please don’t freak out,” I said to Charlie. 

I slowly put my finger inside to pet Charlie. Charlie once again hopped over to me and let me stroke him.

“You’re so calm when you want to be,” I said laughing. 

I petted Charlie for a while until Charlie got hungry again and left my hand to finish the rest of the food in the bowl. 

I facetimed Nate the next day to update him. 

“Yo, my guy, how’s the pigeon?” He asked.

“The pigeon’s good so far! I named it ‘Charlie’.” 

“For real? I vibe with it.” 

I got up and walked to Charlie’s cage. 

“Here take a look at Charlie!” I said.

“Aww it’s sleeping,” 

Charlie was napping peacefully.

“Hey, by the way, how are things with you and your girlfriend? You end up getting her another gift?” I asked, curious.

“Oh yeah, I ended up just giving her a gift card and some socks. She loved it.” 

“Man she shoulda kept the pigeon, a pigeon’s a pretty good gift.”

“Speaking of gifts, I got yours! I think you’re gonna like it.” 

 “You know you don’t have to do that, especially since I won’t be able to get you anything this year... Money’s been really tight ever since I moved out.” 

“Nah man, you taking care of the pigeon is enough of a Christmas present for me. Appreciate you doing that,” he said.

I looked away for a moment. I was feeling heavy in my chest.

“Thank you, man... I’ll have to call you later, I have to get ready for work soon,” I said.

“Yeah yeah, it was good talking. I’ll catch you later.” 

*Boop*

I hated working at the tiny sports store at the mall. It was so boring and I always saw people I knew. Work today was tiring as always. When I got home and walked through the door today, my nose was sucker punched by a horrible smell. It was coming from Charlie’s cage. I inched closer and closer to the cage. I peeked inside and gagged. Poor Charlie was in the corner facing away from his mess.

I put Nate on facetime. 

“DUDEEE!” I cried.

“What, what!? Don’t tell me the pigeon died!” He exclaimed.

“NO! Definitely not, it’s much worse. There’s poop everywhere in his cage!” 

“Oh, you had me worried,” he laughed.

“Can you come here and help me clean it?” 

“You’ve never cleaned a bird cage before?”

“No, I’ve never even had a betta fish before.”

“Fine, I’ll be there in a few.”

The phone gave a soft beep. Charlie didn’t look up.

“And there you go,” Nate said, taking off his gloves.

“Wow, I didn’t think it would be that easy.”

“I am a cleaning pro after all,” he said proudly.

I stroked Charlie’s feathers. Charlie was very happy now that the cage was clean. Charlie rumbled softly. 

“Welp thank you for helping me!” I gave him a pat on his back. “Wanna stay for dinner? I’m making spicy miso ramennnn,” I said, elbowing him softly in his side.

“As much as I love ramen, I can’t stay, I gotta do more Christmas shopping,” He said.

“Dang, bummer...”

“Hey we’ll have to catch dinner sometime for sure though, I’ll catch you around,” he said heading to the door.

The door closed with a loud thud in the silence of the empty house. 

“Okay, see you around,” I sighed.

I sat and leaned back on my couch. I sighed. I looked up at Charlie. Charlie cooed loudly. I smiled. I got up and went to Charlie’s cage. I pet Charlie’s feathers softly. Charlie was rubbing against my hand gently. I had an idea. 

I opened the big middle door of the cage. I slid my hands inside. I petted Charlie, then I slowly picked Charlie up. Charlie was still and calm. I was cradling Charlie gently in my hands. Charlie cooed happily. I knelt down to the floor. I placed Charlie down on the floor. Charlie looked up at me confused. 

“You can walk around if you want. Cages can really cramp someone’s style,” I said to Charlie.

Charlie hopped around a little. Charlie tried to fly but couldn’t get up in the air. Charlie stuck to hopping around. 

“You can’t fly?” I asked Charlie.

I examined Charlie's wings. They looked like they were clipped. 

“Maybe I shoulda called you ‘penguin’,” I said.

Charlie hopped up to me. I sat down on the floor. Charlie nestled into my leg. I sat there stroking Charlie’s feathers. Eventually Charlie fell asleep. I smiled. I picked up Charlie as gently as possible. Charlie didn’t stir once. I placed Charlie in the middle of the cage. Charlie’s chest was moving up and down lightly. 

“Good night Charlie,” I said smiling. 

I walked over to the calendar in my kitchen. It was December 23rd. I was dreading going to work on Christmas Eve, the busiest day of the year. I sighed. To top it off, I was working open to close tomorrow. What fun.

Christmas is hell. Why can’t people understand that if we don’t have something in the store, it’s not going to just magically appear in the back! 

“Can you check the back for some?” 

“Ma’am we ran out of stock last week.”

“Can you please check? I need this jacket.” 

“Sure, I’ll check to be sure.”

Literally I’ve been to the back of the store more than I’ve been at the cash register. I knew there wasn’t the jacket back here, I knew the inventory like the back of hand at this point. I usually stood around a few minutes on my phone before heading back to make it appear as if I was looking. My feet were killing me. I wish I had more comfortable shoes. I’ve had this same pair for years. The sole was coming off, but I superglued it together. I didn’t know how much longer it would hold. I headed back to the lady.

“Sorry ma’am, I couldn’t find any in stock.”

“Well that’s just great. Thank you for that, jerk.”

The lady stormed off. I sighed. People can be so cruel sometimes and over the littlest things. This was supposed to be Christmas after all, the season of goodwill. I hope she gets coal for Christmas. Such a Karen. 

I got home late again. I quickly gave Charlie food. Charlie hadn’t eaten since the morning. Charlie cooed happily and started eating immediately. 

I took a shower and went to bed without eating dinner. I was exhausted. 

I woke up to the smell of something good. I wiped my eyes and got out of bed. I walked into the living room and saw a spread of delicious looking food on the table. There was also a Christmas tree with presents in front of the wall next to Charlie’s cage. 

I heard humming in the kitchen. I found Nate dancing, dressed in a Christmas apron wearing Santa Claus oven mitts.

“On the thirteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me-” Nate stopped singing. “Oh hey wassup!”

“Woah, what’s all this? First of all let me just say, love the fit. Also how did you get in here?” I said holding back a laugh.

“Oh you’re door was open. I also woulda crawled through the window if it wasn’t.” 

“Well, this looks amazing man…” I was tearing up.

“Hey man, I know how hard you’ve had it since moving out. Yet you still always help me whenever I need it. It was the least I could do for you,” he said pulling out the gingerbread cookies from the oven. 

I wiped my tears.

“Thank you.” I croaked.

“Well let’s eat! It was so hard not eating any of the food yet, I’m a fire cook.”

We made our way to my coffee table. We sat down next to the holiday spread. It felt so good to eat actual food. Everything was exquisite. I thanked my friend so many times mid-bite. He shrugged it off but I could tell he was loving the compliments. He’s a sucker for compliments. 

We were so full by the end of our meal, but we had to leave room for the holiday cake and gingerbread cookies. The holiday cake was triple chocolate cake, with candy canes stuck in it all around. I ate a big slice and gingerbread man. 

“Try running now, punk.” I said biting off the gingerbread man’s legs. 

“Man, shut up” Nate said laughing.

“Why you laughing then?” I said laughing as well.

“Cuz you’re so dang lame sometimes.” 

“Man, you love my dumb jokes, admit it.” 

“Shoo, I’d rather get coal for Christmas.”

“You probably did cuz you been naughty all year.”

We laughed together heartily. Charlie cooed happily along with us. We were stuffed like a stocking by the end. 

“Yo, it was fun eating with you. But I think I gotta head out soon.” Nate said.

“Yeah, thank you so much for everything. I really appreciate it.” I said smiling.

“It was nothing, least I could do. It’s fun spreading Christmas positivity.” Nate said.

I hugged Nate and held the door out for him. 

“See you later!” I yelled.

“Yeah, remember my place for New Years! Bye!” Nate yelled back and waved. He got in his car and headed out.

I went back inside to open look at my presents. There were 3 underneath. There was a giant box, a medium sized square box, and a little cube. I was excited. I decided that Charlie should experience this too with me. I soon had Charlie on the floor with me next to my leg. 

“Hmm, which should I open first Charlie?” I asked.

Charlie hopped over and pecked the cube. I picked it up and opened it. It was a little amazon box. I opened it and found 3 different gift cards to grocery stores and a note. 

So you don’t have to eat ramen every day.

I smiled. Time for the next one. Charlie hopped over to the big box this time. I tore it open and it was a giant brown box inside. I ripped off the one piece of tape holding it together. It was filled to the brim with ramen! There was shrimp, chicken, spicy miso, sukiyaki, and many other flavors! I read the note inside.

So you can eat ramen every day.

I laughed. Finally the last one. Charlie was looking at the box curiously. I opened it up and found a Nike box. I opened the box and found the nicest pair of baby blue running shoes I had ever seen. They looked so comfy. I lifted one up and it felt like one of Charlie’s feathers. I picked up the note.

We can’t have you out here with no shoe game now can we?

I smiled big. I held Charlie in my hands. Charlie cooed happily. I never felt more rich in my life.