A Spring Morning

He had missed the 7:30 bus by literally a couple of feet. The driver passed by John without remorse as he frantically sprinted to the curb waving his arms higher and faster than an air traffic controller. Now he had to wait at least 20 minutes for whenever the next bus would arrive going into Kansas City.

The air was cool and although the sunshine promised a clear day without rain, his gray wool cardigan with the wooden bowl buttons wasn’t enough to keep the chill from seeping in. John loved this sweater and wore it everyday. It was the one his son Keith had given him for his birthday last year.

No one waited with him there on the corner of Botano Avenue and Chestnut Street. No cars drove by either. The town was still asleep this Sunday morning. John sat down on the scratched up aluminum bench underneath the graffitied bus sign and stared out at the monotonous suburb neighborhood that stretched out before him. House, driveway, car. House driveway, car. House, driveway, car. The pattern was broken by an RV that jutted out onto the street.

He noticed a few feet away stood a naked tree that was sprouting red buds. It was the beginning of Spring yet John felt like winter. Up in the branches a clump of mud and sticks housed a little bird chirping loudly. Chirp. Chirp chirp.

John walked over to the tree to get a closer look.

“What’s the matter? You hungry?”

The bird started to chirp more furiously.

John thought about Keith and how this time last year they had found a little bird with a broken wing in their backyard. Keith had wanted his father to make the little bird stop crying. He asked his father to make him feel better. Although John was able to save the bird, he could not say the same for Keith.

He turned his head down to the floor and just as he was about to take a step, he stopped. Beneath him, on the concrete was a clump of lifeless fuzzy feathers and a beak. Just a baby bird, he must have fallen trying to leave the nest. John stared at the bird a moment and could see nothing else but its lifeless body. Behind him he could only the little bird’s cries. The sight of death again so soon made something in John snap and within seconds he was overwhelmed with feelings. He started sobbing uncontrollably and was paralyzed with sadness. He could not move, even for the 7:50 bus that whizzed by.