A Bird In The Hand

A Bird In The Hand
By Paul McCann

Frank drove in a desert storm , with the dust rising like a mountain in front of the windscreen of his four wheel drive . He never imagined anything like this would happen on his outback trip . Behing his Utility he was towing a caravan  and was worried about what was going to happen  next . Suddenly the  engine in his Utility stalled and he opened the window and shouted out to the wind , 

“ Give it a rest for heaven sake. “

In that very moment the wind died down and went the other way .

He pulled up and got out from the drivers seat and stood there on the road looking looked around . It was quiet now and took a deep breath saying .

“ Jeze that was close . “

The dust storm had suddenly changed direction and left .

A wild wallaby came hopping by , followed by a dingo and lizard that almost ran just as fast as them . .Frank went inside his caravan a took a can of beer from the  cooler . He pull the ring on the top of the can and took a long sip saying ,.

“ Tastes as good as one you’d get in an outback pub. “

As he said that he heard chirping squawk of a bird in distress , As he went to investigate he saw among the bushes and debris the wind had left behind , this baby parrot on the ground . As there was no sign of the mother , he adopted the little bird , gently picking it up from the ground and holding it in his hands he whistled and said ,

“Hello there little mate . Aren’t we just a weird mob , you and me stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, but she’ll be right , cause out here in never ever land we stick together right and I’m not going to leave you behind like some old china plate with a crack . No way . So what am I going to call you  I mean you have to have a name . Seeing as I found you after the dust blew in

I think I’ll call you Bluey . Come on Bluey , lets get you inside  “

Frank gently held the bird in his hand and carried it inside the caravan where he made a small nest for the bird inside an empty box . He carefully placed Bluey down on a soft cloth , then taking an eye dropper from his first aid box he gave the young parrot some water which went down very well . Afterwards he collected some small grubs from the ground outside and put them inside a container to feed the parrot before getting back on the road .

He drove along the Eyre Highway stopping now and then to explore different places off the beaten track. .

Frank had a trail bike strapped to the back of the caravan and loved to go riding through parts of the outback . He was always amazed by the things he found out there like sea shells as well as some space junk on the desert floor Often there would be wild flowers in the desert and metal sculptures with people’s names and date’s engraved on them .

There was always a lot to see around the mulga scrub on the bike as well as collect like the wildflowers and seeds for little Bluey who was growing fast .

Sometimes after the rain , he’d see wild camels, kangaroos and emus running and hopping about the place . There were massive cattle stations and some weird characters on horseback . He had already visited a few outback pubs and took a bath in an outback tub .

Bluey had now become a hand reared parrot and Frank was teaching him to talk .Some of the words were colourful but the bird wasn’t to know what they meant .

Frank came across some aboriginal kids who were fishing in a creek out back that only aboriginals would know . He rode around them for a little while so they would see he wasn’t meaning them any harm and then he crossed over  the wooden bridge where they were sitting fishing .Some of the boys welcomed him and when Frank took out Bluey from his satchel bag on the bike Bluet walked along Franks arm and sat on his head and said ,

“G’day mate “

The aboriginal boys all started laughing and were amazed how the bird was able to talk . Now and then some colourful language came out which sent everybody there in fits of laughter .

Frank shared a few stories of his outback trip with the lads and they shared some stories of the place where they came from .

It was late in the afternoon when Frank and Bluey returned to the caravan. Bluey was in fine voice singing and chirping which attracted some other birds .

in shades of black and blue, budgie’s and cockatoos, with wild colours and songs ringing out in a twilight chorus in the soft afternoon heat before the setting of the sun . Perched on top of the caravan in scattered hues where these birds without a cage, or an enemy in sight . Free birds to fly in an open sky and yet they chose to come and visit Frank and Bluey . They were impossible to keep quiet and they sang their songs to Frank in the outback of a land where such beauty is rare . Bluey was happy sitting there on Franks shoulder like a silent shade from the summer heat and as it was tea time Frank shared some of his tucker with the wild birds .

Bluey found a friend , another pink Galah like himself who tried to talk ,
like Bluey but didn't make much sense .As twilight fell all the wild birds flew away except for the galah who remained . The next day Frank was on the return trip back home with his caravan and the two new galah’s who seemed to be happy together in the caravan .

Frank returned home and built an outside galah house with entrance and exit doors as well as gravity seed and water feeders for the galahs who had regular visitors everyday .

Lots of wild birds visited everyday to Franks open bird house and before long Bluey had them all talking just like him .

The End