The Lessons Life Teaches, A Collection of Short Stories.

The Dove

I have written a number of stories before about the youth training center in Elko, Nevada, where I have worked for the past five years. I have avoided writing about the youth, as it is neither legal nor appropriate. Instead, I have written about an apparition, toads and ravens. An odd diversity of subjects. This is one about a lone dove.

A while back, I was assigned to work night shift in R&C dorm. This dorm, as well as most of the circular dorms, is actually a 13-sided building. There is a ledge near the high ceiling that goes around the interior of the dorm. Between this ledge and ceiling are windows that bring outside light into the dorm. One night when I was working in the dorm, I noticed there was a ring-necked dove perched on one of the water pipes on this ledge. It likely flew the dorm when the doors were left open during the day. This is by no means a common occurrence. The dove seemed content during the night, but at sunrise the dove wanted to leave the dorm.

The dove began to fly from window to window across the dorm repeatedly crashing into the glass. You could see places where the dove had previously hit the glass so hard that it left blood on the windowpane. When I looked closely at the dove its feathers were ruffled from hitting the windows. I felt great empathy and compassion for this bird's predicament. Even though I knew it was to no avail, I walked toward the dove and said fly down to me and I will take you out of the dorm. I held out my hand and said trust me. I can help you. To no great surprise the dove did not fly down to be set free. Instead, trapped by its own lack of understanding and trust it continued to crash against the windowpanes. I had no way to otherwise help or catch the dove and did not want to make too much noise and wake the youth in the dorm. So, I endured the dove's torment for the hour or so until the incoming day staff showed up to relieve me. When I left the dorm, I let the day staff know about the dove and they said they would try and get the dove to leave the dorm by leaving the doors open when they went to school. I hope they were successful as the dove was gone by my next shift.

I don't know what the moral of this story is. Maybe to be careful not to put yourself in similar unfortunate predicaments. Maybe it questions how you know you can trust someone. Perhaps if you are doing something over and over again that is not improving your situation, then maybe you need to try something different. A lot of maybes. What I do know it is a horrible feeling to watch someone in a difficult situation, even if it is of their own making, and being unable to help them.