Release the birds

Release the birds

I can’t stand the noise, the fighting every night when my dad comes home after work. He sits on the couch while my mother brings him a glass of whiskey, then another. He is an angry man, and after each drink he becomes even more angry and abusive.

I hide in my closet, and count the hours until he passes out. Then I can sneak out of my bedroom window and go to the place where I feel free, and happy. 

It is dark, and the noises stopped! I wish he would stop hurting my mom, and screaming at everything including the TV. I slowly leave the closet, put on a sweater open my window and jump out.

As I run by a few houses I could hear the neighbours dog bark, I look back but do not stop. I feel like he is following me, so I run faster. 

The library is just around the corner, then I will be free of his ugliness. I slide under the gate just big enough for me to get under, and I see the lights on. The cleaning ladies are just arriving on cue and I slip in. 

“Oooooo….” I breath, sat down to catch my breath. The kids section is on the top floor, where my favourite books are of animals. I make my way up the spiralling stairs and I can’t stop smiling. I am close, and know the cleaning ladies will be up here in a few hours. Lots of time to let the birds fly.

Each step up the stairs I get happier and happier. In the kids section I grab my favourite 4 books, one for each corner of the room. Then, the best book of all The Witch and the cat!

I stand in the middle of the room, turn three times and open the book!

The cat jumps out and purrs, right behind her comes the witch. She has a cackle of a laugh, she looks at me and said  “good evening miss Alexandra. Shall we?”

I smile and jump on the broom!

She swirls around the room and the book in the far corner opens. The Sound of whooshing becomes closer and closer, and the sky engulfs  the top floor of the library. Clouds, a rainbow, blue everywhere, and the sun bright and warm. I can feel the breeze move my hair, and tickle my body! 

The witch said “release the birds,” and a flock of seagulls fly around the room, with pigeons and my favourite chickadees.

She turns and looks at me, “are you ready?”

“Yes!” I get excited every time the third book opens, my smile takes over my face. Then before you know it we zoom on the broom and the Witch waves her hand at the book. The sound of the ocean is getting closer, the smell of the sea weed is pungent but intoxicating.

Then the floor of the museum becomes the sea. Turquoise, beautiful, and mesmerizing. The sea gulls fly over and float on top of the waves crashing into the wall. 

We fly to the last book, now I am so excited!! I feel butterflies in my stomach, and jump off the broom into the ocean and I can hear chattering, and clicking and there she was a beautiful dolphin! She was jumping and twirling in the air, then swam over to me to take me for a ride! Now cheering and giggling, this is the world I can live in forever! The witch winks at me, and the cat now on her broom watching us play in the ocean. 

I lay on my back while the waves gently move me rhythmically back and forth, back and forth. I close my eyes and envision myself in this beautiful place where animals and the universe are one. No fighting, yelling,  no drinking. I can’t help but wonder if I were to reach out for the witches broom before the book closes what would happen! 

Would I be stuck in a book forever?

Would I become a new character in the book? Could I re-write the story? Would I be free if another child opens the book? So many questions!!

Should I ask the witch? I wonder if she has powers?  I take a deep breath in and sit on the dolphin like I would a horse.

“What is your name?”  looking at the witch,

She looked at me and smiled, “ witch Wa-Biitong. You can call me witch WaBii, and this is Max the cat!”

“Witch WaBii- can I come back in the book with you? My life is full of hatred and violence, which is why I sneak out every night to see you and Max.”

“Well, Alexandra you can not come in the book with me but Max can go with you if you wish! He will protect you from any evil and will always be with you. But, you have a choice. If Max goes with you you will never be able to have this magical place ever again. You see Max can read minds, and once he is out he will always be out. The thing about Max is that he can also make people do things only for the good. He is the one in this story who bings good to the world. Once he is gone all of the books would disappear.”

“Including you? This magical world of peace and excitement in the library?”

“Yes, Alexandra. But don’t be sad we all have had fun and perhaps one day we can meet again?”

I thought about it, looked at the dolphin,Max on the broom, the birds, the sky, the ocean and the trees that keep growing out of the walls.

“Alexandra dear, the cleaning staff are at the bottom of the stairs. Have you made your decision?”

I look around, it made me dizzy. Things are happening so fast. The dolphin jumps in the book, the sea goes back in the book like someone put the movie on backwards. The sky gets swallowed up. The witch moves her hands in a circle and the trees disappear, the books fly back on the shelf.

“Alexandra?”

“Witch WaBii,” I answer back. “Max come.” He jumped off the broom landed in my arms and the witch flew back into the book and disappeared, and so did the book!

Max jumped out of my arms, and told me to follow. It was the first day of many that turned out to be a much better life. I convinced my mom to keep Max, I would do chores to pay for his food and vet bills. My dad stopped drinking and started to treat my mom better and got a better job.

Years later when I was a woman and had children of my own I wrote a book, the witch and the cat. Max smiled at me now old. I told my kids that we would visit the library in the city were grandma lives on the weekend.  They heard tales of my adventures when I was a child and got excited that I was going to show them the book that I wrote in the very place that I had adventures! 

I rented the library for a couple of hours that weekend. I set up the room with the four books in the corners and asked my children to stand on a table and be very quiet. They nodded, and smiled. 

I stood in the middle of the room and turned three times, and opened the book! 

“Hello old friend” I said to witch WaBii, she looked at me and Max and said “are you ready?”

“You bet,” I said. 

The children had a wonderful time playing with the dolphin, Max was getting old but as soon as he jumped on the broom he became small again. I new then that he was ready to help the next family that needed the witch and the cat.