The Crow's Extraordinary Gift

   “I don’t understand! I pay good money for you to take good care of her, and you can’t even make sure she eats?”

   “Sir, I told you this before. At this time, Miss Betty is in a bad mood because no one comes to visit her. As a result, she is refusing to eat.”

   These are the kind of conversations Marta Rich has to deal with while working as a CNA. She cares for her patients, she does. It’s just the patients' families she’s not too fond of. A simple phone call always has to be a battle.

   “Oh, so now you’re blaming me?” The son of Miss Betty responds on the phone. “It’s your job to make sure she gets the care she needs." 

   “I’m not blaming you sir,” Marta gently replies. “I’m only reporting what’s happening. Your mother is sad and angry right now. If anyone tries to offer her food, she’ll just swat it on the floor. The only thing she wants is to see you.”

   “My wife and I are leaving the country for an 8-week extended vocation. I don’t have time to worry if my mother is going to die under your incompetence!”

   This is nothing to Marta. She has been working as a CNA for years, and has listened to more family complaints from the job, than anywhere else in her life. Usually she can handle it. Usually. But today, she couldn’t.

   “HOW DARE YOU!” Marta screamed at the phone. “YOU'RE NOT THE ONE HERE DAY AND NIGHT TENDING TO HER NEEDS! YOU'RE NOT THE ONE GETTING FOOD THROWN ON YOU! AND YOU'RE NOT THE ONE WHO’S BATHING HER EVERYDAY! I DO A DAMN GOOD JOB TAKING CARE OF MY PATIENTS!” IF YOU DON’T LIKE HOW I’M DOING THINGS, THEN COME AND GET HER, DO IT YOURSELF, AND SEE HOW THAT WORKS OUT!”

Marta slams the phone on the dial. Shocked at her own behavior, she looks up to see the few people in the lobby. Everyone is staring, sniggering, and judging Marta right now. Everyone except for David, the RN.

   “Marta, is everything okay?” David asks with concern. “What’s going on?”

   “I need a break.” Marta quickly utters as she walks past him. Rushing to the break room.  

   While in the break room, Marta slumps in the chair. She rests her elbows on the table with her head buried in her hands. Exhaustion is written all over her face. And yet, she still has the energy to pull out her phone, and look at the time. 4:00pm. She has until 8:00 before she can clock out. With a sigh, she pulls up a photo of her at the park with a young boy. He can’t be any older than seven. They look really happy together.

   Marta smiles at the photo. All she wants to do is get off work. Then she can pick up her son Alan from her neighbor, Sarah. Alan is all she has right now. The smile recedes when she remembers who took the photo for her. 

    Marta turns when she hears the break room door open. It’s David.

   “Okay Marta, don’t worry." He reassures her. "I took care of the situation with Betty’s son. But I still need you too explain yourself. That’s not like you.”

   “I’m sorry David, it’s just with all these extra shifts I’ve been taking, it’s starting to get to me.” Marta confessed. 

   “Things have been harder for you ever since Dan left, huh?”

   “It is what it is. I’ll get over it. He just needs to come and see his son, and tell him why he left. At least help me with child support, or something!”

   Dan clearly struck a nerve within Marta. He didn’t mean to.

“Go home, and be with your kid. You do need a break.”

   “But what about my hours?” Marta asks. 

   “Don’t worry about it. I’ll make sure you get your hours. Go have family time with Alan, and come back feeling good, alright?”

   “Thank you so much David.” Marta excitedly says as she gets up to get her things. “I’ll be better tomorrow. I promise.”

   She leaves the break room with David watching her, smiling.

   “You cussed out your own patient’s son? I think you got that from me.” Sarah cheers. "I’m proud of you girl. It got you here early.”  

   Marta made it to her neighbor’s house. Sarah has been helping to watch Alan since Marta has been forced to take more shifts. 

   “Thank you so much for watching him all this time.”

   “Oh it’s fine, Alan is a good kid. Do you want to come in?”

   “No, I’m tired.” Marta refuses. “First, there’s the work stress. Then on the way to the car, I see this man in the parking lot, and he’s watching me as I leave.”

    “Marta quit fooling yourself, there’s nobody looking at you.”    

    "I just want to get Alan, and go lay down. How is he now?”

   “Oh he’s sleeping right now. But I’ll tell you this. Alan just learned about birds at school, and now he won’t shut up about it.”

   “Uhh birds.” Marta says, her face wry with disgust. “I’m sorry, but I freaking hate birds. You know I had a whole bunch of them all over my yard when I pulled in today. I had to throw rocks at them to get them to fly away. I don’t want those birds shitting all over my yard, or my car.”

     Sarah shakes her head no, but in agreement. “I don’t blame you.”

    “Mooooommmmmyyy!” a tired little boy calls out from the hallway in the house. He runs to her with pure energy. “Your early Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

    “Hey baby!” Marta chimes happily as she embraces her son. “How was your day?”

    “It was good mommy. I learned about the animals that live with us, but my favorite animal was the birds.” 

    Sarah looks at Marta with a pitiful smile. “You’ve been warned. All right girl have a good day. Bye Alan.” 

    “Bye bye Miss Sarah.” 

    The rest of the day was time very well spent.

    The next morning, Marta is busy getting everything for her and Alan. “Come on Alan, it’s time for school.” She says as she packs Alan’s lunch.

    “Coming mommy.” Alan yells from his room.

    Marta’s phone suddenly rings. She’s annoyed, because she not expecting anyone to call. But Marta’s also not the type to just ignore someone, even if it’s an unfamiliar number.

    “Hello,” she answers. No reply. “Hello,” she answers a little more harshly. No reply again. “Ok then.” Marta hangs up the phone, and continues getting ready. Five minutes doesn’t pass when the phone rings again.

    “Hello,” no reply. “Alright who is this? Stop calling me, or I’m calling the cops.” Marta hangs up. Really? Marta’s husband of 8 years leaves her with no explanation, work is stressing her out, and now she’s got a stalker to deal with? Stressing over all of this, she loses a little track of time. And is just now remembering her prime objective.

    “Alan, come on let's go.” Her demands are left with silence. “Alan.” Marta walks to Alan’s room to find it only filled with the toys he didn’t pick up. Fear immediately rushes through her body.

    “ALAN! ALAN WHERE ARE YOU!” she runs to the living room to find the door wide open.

     “ALAN!” Marta cries as she runs out the door. 

     Her wasted adrenaline turns to relief when she sees Alan crouched in the grass of the front yard. His attention seems to be somewhere else.

“Alan, didn’t you hear me when I was calling you?” Marta lectured as she walked toward him. “What are you doing out here?”

    “You said let's go, so I came outside.” Alan defended himself. “Then I found him mommy.” He stands up to show a young crow looking right back at Marta.

   “Caw!” said the crow.

    “No Alan, I don’t want these birds near my house. Were you trying to feed him?”

    “Caw Caw is hungry.”

    “Oh no, you named him,” Marta mutters. “No baby, if we feed these birds, then they’re just going to come and use the bathroom on the car.”

     “But not these birds mommy,” Alan protests. “These birds are corvids, and if you’re nice to them, they won’t use the bathroom on our car.”

     “Honey, birds are not that smart.”

     “But crows are.”

     Annoyed with his persistence, Marta asks the big question, “Why do you like the birds all of a sudden?”

     “Because daddy liked birds.” He answers.

     It certainly wasn’t the answer she was expecting. It hurt a little. Why did Dan just leave them like that? Sure they argued, what couple doesn’t. But to leave your family without warning, why?

     “Please Mommy, can we feed Caw Caw?” Alan begs.

   Marta looks at the crow, apparently named Caw Caw. It even looks like he’s begging too. Feeling defeated, she lets out a sigh.

  “Well, if we’re going to feed Caw Caw, we’ll need a birdfeeder.” 

“Yeah!” cheered Alan.

“Caw!” cheered Caw Caw.

  It didn’t take long for the birdfeeder to get delivered to the house. After doing a little research, Marta decided that unshelled peanuts were the best option for Caw Caw. Caw Caw would eat as much as he could, and then hop around the lawn happily, as if celebrating his feast. Alan would be right by his side.

  As the days went by, one crow turned into many. Now Marta is the talk of the town as “The Crow Lady”. She used to hate it at first. But she noticed how much happier Alan has become. He doesn’t even ask about Dan anymore. Marta has been thinking about him less as well. And dare say she has become happier too. Besides, Alan and Caw Caw have become great friends. Caw Caw will even sit on Alan’s windowsill in the evening time. 

    Although, things have gotten better for Marta and Alan, the strange phone calls continue to harass Marta. She had to block like three numbers. David offered to walk her to her car, or drive her home, but she refuses every time. She’s in a good place, and she will not give that power to some creepy guy that won’t even talk on the phone.

    Late one night, Marta is rudely awakened by the caws of the crows. 

    “Are you serious right now?” she groggily asks herself as she sits up from her bed. She picks up her phone on the nightstand to look at the time.

     “Are you really serious right now!” she shouts. You don’t get to be The Crow Lady without learning how to deal with the noise. Marta has dealt with it, but never at 2:30 in the morning. As the caws progressively get louder, Marta puts on her robe. 

     “Maybe this crow thing has gone too far.” She thinks as leaves the bedroom. Not really sure what to do. 

      “Alan may be upset. But I got to work to pay bills, and I can’t do that if I can’t sleep. This was fun, but the birds have got to go.”

      Marta’s plan was to go outside and yell at the crows until they flew away, at least for tonight. She doesn’t even make it to the front door. Once she's in the living room, she notices a broken window. Someone is in the house.

     No sooner she realizes this, a gloved hand is forcibly placed over her mouth.

     “SHhh Shhh SHHH now.” warns the masked intruder. “Don’t make a sound, you understand?” Marta can feel a sharp object on her throat, a knife no doubt. 

     “Now,” the intruder continues while holding his captive. “We’re going back to the bedroom, and we'll have us some fun.”

     Marta is afraid. No, she's terrified. Alan could wake up at any time. And she does not want him to see her get violent.

You see, Marta is not afraid of the intruder. Thanks to Sarah, she knows exactly what to do in this situation. Good thing she put her shoes on. With as much force possible, Marta slams her foot into the intruders shin.

    “AHHHHHHHHHH!” the intruder screams. Letting Marta go.

    “NOT TODAY ASSHOLE!” Marta screams as she kicks him in the balls. The intruder falls crippled on the ground, and Marta takes the opportunity to run to Alan’s room. She dashes to the bedroom door, and slams it shut. Waking Alan.

   “Mommy what’s going on?” he asks sleepily.

    “Alan, I need you to go out the window and run to Sarah’s. Okay?” Marta tries to open the window, when the bedroom door bursts open. 

   “I didn’t want to use this.” The masked intruder coldly says as he brandishes a pistol. “Come here Marta! Now!”

   She has no other choice. She slowly gets up with her hands in the air. “Okay, whatever you want. Alan stay here.” Marta slowly walks over to the intruder, as commanded.

    “You know,” Marta exclaims. “You sound familiar.” Once Marta gets close enough, she reaches out, and pulls off the intruder’s mask. Revealing the creep. 

     “David!” Marta gasps. Clearly just as shocked as David is.

“But, why?”

     “All this time, I’ve always loved you.” David cries out, while pointing the gun at her. “And you never gave me a chance!”

       “David, I was married. And plus, you’re my boss!”

      “But.... what if you were fired?”

      “What!… No, you're crazy!”

       “See that’s the thing.” David continues with his manic onslaught.  “If I can’t have you, no one can. And F.Y.I.” He gets close enough to Marta for her to hear him whisper.

       “Your husband Dan didn’t leave you.”

      “What?” Marta’s eye widen with horror as she slowly processes what is being said to her.

     “YOU BASTARD, I’LL KILL YOU!” Marta lashes out. She is hitting David with everything she has. She gives him a black eye. David hits Marta in the face with the butt of the gun, knocking her to the ground.

     “Mommy!” Alan cries. David points the gun at him. “Shut up you little shit!”

     “Let the boy go!” a voice cries out in the darkness. A very deep, and unfamiliar voice.

     “Let the boy go!” the voice repeats. Marta gets up in a daze also confused by the voice.

    “Who's there?” David interrogates. Pointing the gun this way and that. “Who are you?”

    “Let the boy go! Let the boy go! Let the boy go!”

   David finds the light switch, and flips it on. The room is filled with all the crows Marta and Alan have ever fed. They all have their eyes set on David. That unfamiliar voice was Caw Caw sitting on the windowsill.

    “LET THE BOY GOOOOOO!”

    David begins firing, but no amount of gunshots could help him. There were simply too many crows. They all mercilessly attacked David. Clawing at him. Pecking at him. Doing everything they could to get him away from Marta and Alan. 

     David scrambles out of Alan’s room, as if trying to avoid gunshots himself. No matter how much distance he gained, the crows showed no yield. David flees to the front door, with the crows fresh on his tail. 

     They attack him as he pulls open the door, revealing not his freedom, but an army of police officers. They are all responding to the dozens of calls reporting the crow noise. It was only then the crows disappeared.

     A few hours later, the last cop leaves after giving Marta some information to put in her phone. Sarah is with her to make sure she’s okay.

   “Marta girl, I’m so sorry I didn’t notice anything until he already broke in.” Sarah was one of the first to call the cops when she heard screams coming from Marta’s house. “It was David this whole time?”

    “He killed Dan, Sarah. All this time, I was so angry at him.”

  Marta is about to burst into tears when Sarah grabs her, and gives her big hug. “It’s going to be okay,” Sarah comforts her the best she can. She didn’t sign up for this much drama.

  “At least you know now.” Sarah continues. “And David is locked up. He’ll pay for Dan’s murder. And at least Alan is safe. Not even a scratch. He’s watching cartoons at my house.”

  Sarah and Marta let go of each other when Marta’s finished crying.

   “Thanks Sarah. The crows saved us, and I wanted to them gone.”

  “You know how they say crows give gifts to people that feed them?” Sarah asks. “That’s probably going to be the best gift you can ever ask for.” 

    “One of them talked. Caw Caw.” Marta tells her. 

    “Caw Caw?” Sarah mocks.

   “Alan named him that. Anyway, he talked. He kept saying let the boy go.”

    “Like a parrot?”

    “No, like a person.”

    Sarah stares at Marta for a while. “Look girl, it was probably in the heat of the moment. You got hit in the head remember? You probably imagined it talking like that.”

    “Oh yeah.” Marta humorously replies as she feels the bandage on her head. "I forgot about that.”

    “Caw!” shouted a familiar voice. On the ground sits Caw Caw, looking right up at Marta, as always. Sarah laughs.

    “Alright Marta, I’ll let you have your alone time with your new friend. Come in the house when you’re done.” Sarah laughs as she walks away. Marta looks down at Caw Caw. The crow she once hated, ended up saving her life, in more ways than one.

    “A little secret between you and me.” Marta tells Caw Caw. “That last police officer gave me his number. He likes crows too. Thank you Caw Caw, for everything.” Marta turns away to go back inside.

  “You’re welcome, my friend.”

  Marta turns around in shock, as Caw Caw flies away.

 The End