Whispers In The Dark

Anna

Anna

I never slept in on the weekends, except for when I was too tired to even twitch. I was usually up at eight. On Saturday morning, however, I was up at five, and dressed by seven.

I was excited, to say the least.

I showered as soon as I woke up, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth, pulled on a white knitted sweater and a pair of black leggings, with a pair of combat boots and the silver charm bracelet that my dad had given me for my tenth birthday.

And then, I sat around for three and a half hours.

He was there by ten-thirty, and he apologized profusely about being so early, before blurting that he had been too anxious to wait any longer. I merely laughed and said that I was, too, although I left out that I had been up since five o' clock.

The drive to the pet store was nearly half an hour long, but it was okay. Jessiah played an alternative rock station lowly and we exchanged small bits of conversation, before slipping back into a comfortable silence.

The store was bigger than I had expected. The moment that we walked through the sliding doors, we were bombarded by the smell of animals.

I wanted to see the dogs, first, but Jessiah insisted that we visit the birds. Naturally, I agreed.

I was shocked to see that the birds were not in cages, but rather on perches and fake branches. There were two or three employees lounging around the area when we arrived, and as Jessiah reached his hand toward the largest bird, I looked at him doubtfully.

"It's okay," he assured. "People play with the birds all the time."

He nudged his hand against the bird's chest and smiled. "Step up," he said. The white bird, bigger than my head, stepped up obediently onto his hand and squawked as he petted it's feathers.

"This is Leila," he explained, looking to me. "She's a Macaw." He nodded his head to her. "Hold her. Just put your hand to her chest and say 'step up'."

I looked at the bird nervously, afraid that she would bite me. "I'm good," I laughed. "I'll just hold one of the smaller birds."

He grinned, and I pressed my finger to a smaller bird's chest. Softly, I said, "Step up."

The small green and yellow bird stepped up onto my fingers, and a goofy smile lit up my face.

"That's a Sun Conure," he explained. "They're very lovable, but are not popular for talking."

"That's okay," I said. I smiled at the bird and held it closer to my face. "You're a quiet bird, aren't you? I like that."

The bird nipped at my lips and I refrained from jumping back. I jerked, however, from surprise, and the bird squawked in my face.

I laughed, and so did Jessiah. We laughed for a while, even when the store employees stopped talking and looked at us oddly. We laughed and smiled and made fun of each other, and I could tell that he was happy to be there. I hoped he could tell that I was, too.