In September 2006, the hurricane season had been especially hard on the southeast. The winds had been high and many and the rains came in deluge. One morning Mister, in his morning walk to get the newspaper, found a little baby bird lying on the ground next to the driveway. Not wanting a neighborhood cat to get it, he picked it up and carried it to one of the flower pots on the patio. That's where I found it. In the flower pot sitting on the picnic table on the patio.
It was a tiny little thing, that bird. And as is my nature, I brought it in and tried to get it warm. Fed it some bread mashed up in water and waited for it to die. But it didn't. Before long, it was off to the pet store to see if I could find something that this little thing would eat. We hand mixed the food and every two hours we fed it with an eye dropper. It grew feathers. It grew!
One day I was holding it in my hands, it sitting up on my fingers, and my Mister said, "Hi, Chuck". The name stuck. With the first egg that she layed, being the smart folks that we are, we discovered that Chuck was really a girl. But the name stuck.
She became a part of the family. She made trips with me over to my folks' place across the state, riding in her little cage. Sadie was still alive then and loved Chuck. And Chuck loved Sadie. But Sadie loved Mister's shoes more.
Today I went in to feed Chuck and she was curled up in the corner of her cage lifeless. She lived six years longer than any of us thought she would. She was a wonderful pet. Sadie's been gone a year and a half. Maybe Chuck has flown to heaven and is with Sadie now.
