A Not So Silent Night

“Bye, Davis,” I said with melancholy.

“Hey, don’t worry, Kate,” Davis said over the phone, “I’ll be back to Denver in no time.”

Davis was my best friend since birth. Our moms were roommates in college and we were born on the same day. Davis became a consultant a few years ago. Ever since then, he has been traveling the world. He is currently in Paris, France. 

Right as I hung up, the doorbell on my apartment door rang. As I slid off the couch, I heard a weird cawing sound. I opened the door, but I didn’t see anyone. I heard the cawing again louder this time. I looked down and saw a bird with a red ribbon on her.

“CA-CAW!” she shrieked.

“Well aren’t you a pretty girl,” I cooed, “Where is your owner? Hmmm…, oh look, there’s a note.”

“To a very special girl,” the note read, “Love Davis.” 

I took the bird inside and plopped down on the couch.. I did a little research and decided that she must be a partridge. After staring at the bird’s red face and gray chest for a while, I decided not to get too attached. I held the small note in one hand and twiddled it with my fingers. I flipped the handwritten card over and saw a few words scribbled on the back. 

“Her name is Holly,” the note read.

“Great. Now I can do nothing but get attached,” I sighed.

Once again, I heard a knock on the door. 

“Coming!” I called as I opened the door with a fake smile on my face.

“Surprise!”

“DAVIS!” I exclaimed.

“Hi, Katy Kat!” he said excitedly.

“You know I don’t like it when you call me that anymore,” I said trying to hide my real smile. 

“Remember? You were my Katy Kat and I was your D-Dog.”

Pretty soon, I couldn’t hide my smile anymore. 

“CA-CAW!” Then I remembered Holly. 

“Why would you send me a bird?!” I yelled as I hit him with a throw pillow, “I can’t keep a bird in my apartment! Actually, I have an idea. You are going to stay here in my apartment and help me take care of Holly.”

I heard a slight squishing sound. I slowly looked down at my brand new pair of boots. I had stepped in bird poop. Davis chuckled.

The next day, I woke Davis up and instructed him to go down to the pet store across the street and buy Holly a bird cage.

“I don’t have any money,” he said. I threw some cash at him. 

“Deal with it,” I said laughing to myself.

After I made sure that Davis had left, I started loving on Holly. I realized that Holly wasn’t messing around. She got irritated by me pretty fast. The sassy partridge flew over to a wooden fruit bowl and started nibbling on a pear.

“Knock-knock,” Davis said, trying to fit through the door with a large box and bulky bags.

“What are all those bags?” I asked, “I only told you to get a bird cage.” 

“Well, I did some research and turns out, partridges eat seeds. I got a bag of assorted seeds.”

“What’s the other bag?” 

“Frozen pizza, chips, popcorn, candy and that movie that just came out,”

“But we have to take care of Holly,”

“I’m only here a week,”

“Fine,” I obliged. 

“Hey, why is Holly eating the pear?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed tiredly.

“ I was just wondering. It’s really ironic.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as we watched Holly devour the top half of the pear.

“Come on, you know the song,” Davis sang, “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree!”

I stood as still as a statue.

“Kate, don’t you dare tell me you forgot!” Davis said playfully disappointed, “When we were nine years old, we went caroling at Miss Hailey’s house. She was sick and couldn’t visit her brother for Christmas.”

“I remember. I tripped and dropped my candy cane. I felt like crying. You gave me yours.”

“That was fun,” Davis whispered. 

“Okay, let’s get this bird cage together,” I said breaking the silence.

With a lot of struggling, we finally got the bird cage together. 

“Now that I think about it,” I started, “I don’t want to put Holly in this cage.”

“Seriously?” Davis said shocked, “I got poked in the eye six times.”

“I know, but look at her! She doesn’t want to live in a cage,”

“She has demolished a pear and half a bag of bird seed. She also has pooped on the floor seven times. That’s only in forty five minutes.”

“Toshay,” 

“Lets just put her in for tonight and she how she does,”

“Okay,” I agreed.

We watched the movie and ate the pizza. Then, we put leftovers in the refrigerator. 

“CA-CAW!”

“Hey, before we go to bed, do you want to go to the pet store to buy Holly something for her cage to make it feel like home?”

“Sure,” Davis replied, “I’ll pay for it!” 

We walked into the pet store bundled up in scarves and hats. The bells on the door handle clanged against the glass. Dogs and cats started hissing and howling.

“Hey!” the man at the counter shouted, “Be quiet, you bags of fleas!”

“Hi, Darien,” Davis called to the man.

“What’s up, Davis?” Darien called back.

“This is Kate, my friend I was telling you about,” Davis said urging me forward.

“Hello, I’m Kate,” I said as I shook his hand.

“Wow!” Darien exclaimed, “She’s even prettier than what you said about her!”

“What are you talking about, Darien?” Davis said through gritted teeth. I laughed underneath my breath. 

“We’re going to buy an accessory for a bird cage. Do you know where we can find one?” I asked.

“On isle number four,” he said. 

“How do y’all know each other?” I asked. 

“We were in the same class in fifth grade and were pretty good friends,” Davis said.

Once we had picked out a bird swing, I asked Davis,”Why did you come back?”

He was silent for a second, “I guess,” he paused, “I felt guilty. You are my best friend and I haven’t seen you in four years. I felt like I was losing my home.”

“Remember that poem we wrote for your mom on mother’s day when we were eleven? ‘A house is made of wood and beams, but a home is made of love and dreams. Home is where we come back to. Not where we try to make a new home.’ This is always going to be your home.” 

“Thank you, Kate. But can I ask you something? I know you didn’t want to get too attached to Holly. You are attached. Why is that?”

“Maybe it’s because you gave her to me,”

“Wow…, I didn’t think you felt that way about me,” Davis said, almost too quiet to hear.

“Honestly, no offense or anything, I didn’t think I did either.”

“You’re a really great friend.”

“You too.”