Hi all,
Although having shut this story down after chapter three (and not that many reviews), I've decided to give it a rework. I'm curious to know how you find it now. If you haven't read it before, please enjoy!
KR,
J. Caesar
Chapter 1: Tiago
The sun peeked over the edge of the horizon and its first rays touched the Brazilian rainforest. It spurred the last of the nocturnal creatures to fly, crawl or skitter back to their homes. Additionally, the animals that profited from the damp morning were notified to begin their search for breakfast. Among these animals were the Blue Spix's Macaws. Although, not all of them fancied the early hours.
"Tiaaago!"
One ray in particular shone its light on a small face. In reply to this warm greeting, the little bird opened an eye, groaned and flapped a wing over his face. He tried to ignore his mother's voice coming from below, hoping that because his nest was on the top floor, he'd be forgotten. Sadly, he was wrong.
His mother's silhouette appeared in front of him, but that's all it was. His sleepy eyes provided him with a blurry sight as he yawned.
"Tiago?"
"Yeah, yeah. Just five more minutes. " He grumbled back.
"Nah-ah. I know the length of your minutes. Time to get up."
"But mom…"
"Your dad and I are going to fetch breakfast, if we're back, you'd better be awake." She spoke strictly.
"Yes mom."
His mother disappeared and he rubbed his eyes in the hope of brightening his vision. It worked, partially. With a theatrical amount of effort, he raised himself to his feet. He hopped over to the edge of his floor and looked down. Bia kissed her parents goodbye as she always did when they parted. Carla stood on the ground floor as well, yet not for the same reason. She was working hard to subdue the perked up feathers on her head. All of it was a scene too common and Tiago sighed tediously. These daily rituals bored him.
"Just another Tuesday." He said to himself.
He turned around and stared at his bed. In contrast to his sisters, he didn't really care about his haircut. He didn't really feel the need to tidy himself up for school. He didn't even like school. He contemplated about lying down in his bed again, but his mother's warning made him hesitant. It would take his parents at least 15 minutes before returning with breakfast, so would he take the risk? If he'd fall back asleep again, he'd be in trouble. His mother never made empty threats. He choose not to test fate. Instead, he scoured his room for any form of entertainment to fill up the time.
He caught sight of something on his window frame. A big slug crawled tacitly down the tree, passing his floor. The slug had been feeding off the leaves of the tree at night and was now descending to hide in the lower parts from his daylight enemies. Tiago drew a fiendish smirk and peeked down at this sister. Carla was too occupied to notice.
"Why not energize the boring morning with a little fun?" He spoke to himself.
He stretched out the window with his foot and grabbed a leaf. He pulled hard, yet it was tethered more firmly than he had estimated. He had to put in his full weight to get it off, with the expected outcome. The leaf suddenly snapped free and he tumbled backwards.
"Tiago, what are you doing?" Carla called.
"Nothing!" He replied.
He held the leaf in front of the slug. The gentle animal crawled on undisturbed. With bated breath, Tiago carried it on the leaf back inside. He peeped over the edge again. Carla was humming a song whilst walking up and down the bottom floor and still had no clue of her brother's intentions. Tiago waited for her to return to the birdbath in the centre. When his target was in position, he held out his tool of mischief and watched as the snail slowly crawled towards the edge. Once it discovered it was out of road, it attempted to turn around, yet before it could do so, Tiago shook the leaf firmly. The innocent mollusc went into freefall, coursing for the head of the blue chicklet below.
"Hey Carla, have you seen my-.."
Unexpectedly, the snail's flying trip came to a halt when Bia popped her head over the edge, intercepting it. The splatting sound it made on impact was enough to send Tiago on his back with laughter.
"Oh gosh… there is a slug, a slug on your head." Carla stammered.
"TIAGO!" Bia cried.
Tiago laughed even harder and did not stop until he noticed who was staring down on him. His father and mother, and they were far from happy. The former tapped the floor with his talon. Although the initial result of his joke had pleased him, the chick knew now that his stunt was going to get a tail.
"We're gone for how long…?" His father asked his mother.
"Ten minutes." She filled in.
"Ten minutes, Taigo. TEN MINUTES. You are absolutely unbelievable."
"But it's not my fault, the slug just…"
He stopped talking. It didn't matter what kind of excuse he would try to put up. Nobody would believe him. He had done far too much in the past to gain the benefit of the doubt in this situation. He had to try something different if he didn't want to sweep the entire nest again.
"Yes, I did it. I suppose you have to make me stay at home today, I deserve that." He said with played humility.
"Nice try, young man. You're just going to school." His mother replied with a grin.
"…and you know what you're going to do this afternoon." His father added.
"Oh man, not sweep the nest again…"
"You have yourself to thank for that."
Breakfast proceeded rather quietly. Tiago had expected to receive all kinds of snide remarks from his sisters, but instead he was given the silent treatment. This everlasting silence was eventually broken when Eduardo busted in. Not that he was given much time to say more than a simple hello, Tiago jumped him as soon as he spotted his grandfather. It almost made the old bird fall over.
"My, Tiago, you've grown. I can hardly lift you up."
"Pop-pop, why don't you come by as often as you used to."
Eduardo shook his head.
"Work, my boy. Loads of it."
"And when is that done?"
"I don't know. Soon I hope."
Tiago was placed back onto the ground.
"What brings you here, daddy?" His mother asked.
As Eduardo started to discuss matters with his parents, Tiago lost interest. He finished his breakfast quickly and rushed to enjoy the few minutes he had left by playing football in his room. The round piece of fruit he had chosen for this task however, was not up for this task. After kicking it against the wall a mere five times, it pulverized, leaving a smudge. He wanted to go outside and play football, yet he had to go sit in a classroom and afterwards he had to clean the nest. In his anger he gave his bedside a kick.
"Stupid school."
His father went along with Eduardo afterwards, leaving his mother to bring him and his sisters to school. As was accustomed, it was Carla who was the last to be ready. Jewel urged her to hurry, although this was as effective as extinguishing fire with a can of oil. After having dragged it out to the last moment, his older sister finally confirmed her readiness and they could go on their way. Their destination was the tree of education, the school of the colony, situated near the centre of their territory.
"And don't forget sweeties, dad and I aren't able to pick you up after school so you'll have to go back home together, okay?"
An idea shot through Tiago's mind.
"Don't worry, we promise." He said.
Their mother smiled proudly, gave them all a kiss and flew away. When she was out of hearing distance, Carla addressed Tiago.
"What are you up to?" She demanded distrustful.
"Nothing, why do you ask?"
Both his sisters looked at him with suspicion and he knew they would find out anyhow, thus decided to share his plan. He gestured them to come closer, but they weren't inclined to do more than lean forward.
"I'm gonna skip school today."
"What? Why?" Bia let out astonished.
"Why? Because it's boring, that's why."
"Can't argue with that." Carla posed. "But what if mom and dad find out?"
"They won't, because you won't tell them."
"Hey! Don't you call me a tattletale!" Carla snapped.
"But what about the teacher?" Bia argued, ignoring her worked up sibling. "Won't she report you if you don't show?"
Tiago rubbed his chin. He hadn't given any thought to that. Maybe if his sisters could cover him, he would be able to pull it off. The odds were not in his favour, especially since he pranked them this morning, but there was no harm in asking.
"Yeah, I don't suppose you guys could make something up…?" He asked vaguely.
"Ha! Forget it." Carla scoffed and she flew away.
Bia was now the only person left to help him out. He looked at her imploringly. She raised an eyebrow.
"Me? I'm a terrible liar. And don't forget that I'm still mad at you for 'slug'ing me this morning!"
Tiago's mental gears turned at full power, working out how to trick his sister into aiding him.
"Because, that was all just good fun. You're not boring, are you?"
A brief moment past by and Bia clearly hesitated.
"No!... At least I think not."
"I KNOW not. Because only really boring birds wouldn't want to help out their brother. And you want to help out your brother, don't you?"
She remained quiet and he put his wing around her shoulders as if they were best friends. Although they were a tight family, this point was still up for debate.
"Come on, you're my cool sister, remember?"
"I thought Carla was your cool sister." Bia answered with a suspicious look.
"No-no-no. You're the cool one, everyone knows that!"
He could see that his plan to impel her was taking effect. She wouldn't let him down after all the compliments he had given her. Especially being cool was something Bia strived for, hence Tiago knew that it would be a strong motivator.
"Alright, I'll help you out. But you must promise me not to do anything stupid or dangerous."
"Pff, you sound like…"
He realized that he couldn't criticise her now. If he did, maybe she'd change her mind and then his entire rouse was done for. Besides, this was a simple promise. When had he ever done anything reckless?
"You got my word."
He quickly left by soaring down at the back of the tree and knew exactly where he'd go first. Next to the football stadium, there was a small area reserved for practise. It was the site were the Blue Macaw team perfected their football skills before going into the field. However, this was at night. During the day, it would be abandoned. And Tiago was already looking forward to having the entire place to himself.
And indeed. His prediction had been correct: the entire place was deserted. Here, The goals stood only a metre above the ground, whereas the ones in the stadium stood much higher. This was only logical because of the much higher skill level of the players there.
Luckily for Tiago, the footballs were easily accessible. They lied motionless in a small trench, dug just outside the borders of the field. He greedily took one and started juggling the ball with his talons. He had practised kick-ups at home regularly, however the ball here was slightly bigger and heavier, giving him difficulties keeping it off the ground.
"Ah man, why can't I get this right."
He also tried shooting at the goal, which too was a lot harder with the official ball. After toying around for a while, he took a necessary break and sat down for a moment. Even an active youngster like himself needed a short rest sometimes and the heavier ball and unlimited boundaries had left him exhausted. While he leaned against the base of the goal, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the patch of shade that he had found here. He was having a good time that was true, but in his mind it had been way more fun than this. Maybe it's because there is no-one to see him or cheer for him as his dad mostly did. Then he thought about Bia. Would she keep her promise? He had no doubt about that, but then something struck him. She was a terrible liar. So what would happen if the teacher found it she wasn't telling the truth? Wouldn't she break under the pressure? That could be a major problem.
He was so deep in his thoughts that he noticed almost too late that someone else arrived at the playing field. He opened his eyes upon the sound of flapping wings and got a fright when he saw a blue silhouettes descend onto the other side. The chick slowly backed away into the bushes, holding his breath. Fortunately, they weren't expecting to find anyone here and the shade covered his retreat well. When he reached the undergrowth, he let out a sigh. That was a close.
"Hey Joe, look at this." one of the birds said, "one of the balls is already in the goal. That means you're already 0-1 behind!"
This place was now impossible for him to stay. Well, it was time to find joy somewhere else anyway. He flew through the bushes until he judged it safe enough to fly at a higher altitude. What would he do next? He was a little thirsty from his game, so some water would be the next stop. He couldn't drink in the centre as usual, it was too crowded. Someone would evidently spot him. The river would be his target, but to get there he had to go all the way around the centre.
He decided to fly low in order to stay out of sight from the ever-wary eyes of the adults soaring around the colony airspace. As a youngster, he was much less impeded by the denser vegetation than they were, so it didn't slow him down. It was the fear of being caught, that kept him from going at full speed. This lengthened his trip, much to his annoyance. After a flight that had seemingly taken a century, he was only halfway. It felt to him like he was wasting a lot of time. Time he could be spending whilst having fun.
He weighed the risk of flying higher and deemed it possible to take that chance. He had already sneaked by the centre of the colony and figured it would be less likely to encounter anyone. Although still not completely relaxed, he was flying faster now and he arrived at the riverbank not a little while later. As he had been taught, he first checked to see if it was safe to land and then perched down. It was only a small stream, not even half the width of one of the main rivers, but he too was not that big, so relatively speaking it was quite an ocean to him.
He scanned his surroundings one last time and then began gulping up the refreshing fluid. Until now, he hadn't realized how thirsty he had been, nor how dry his mouth. All that flying and playing had left him parched. He sighed contentedly and stared at the sky. He couldn't wait to grow up and do whatever he wanted to, just like today. He'd play a lot of football, that was certain.
Suddenly he distinguished two silhouettes. Blue silhouettes! And they were headed his way!
He quickly duck into the bushes, although found that it wasn't as bushy as he had hoped. It was too late now. All he could do was wait with bated breath for the macaws to pass by. He recognized his grandfather and his uncle Roberto. They were discussing heavily. Fortunately, this kept them from spotting him in the not so dense vegetation. When he reckoned they were long gone, he'd allowed himself to breathe again. He wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead.
"Imagine that they had seen me, that would've been a disaster." He spoke to himself.
Behind him a bush rustled and in a panicked reaction he flew right up, realizing only moments from the canopy that his uncle and grandfather could still be within visual range. He hid the nearest tree to avoid being seen by either his family or whatever had startled him. It turned out to have been a tapir. It ventured towards the water, probably for the same reason as himself. Tiago remembered the commentator from the football match between the red and blue macaws. He too drank greedily from the creek and Tiago estimated the animal to be harmless.
He descended silently and landed on the mammal's back.
"Hi!"
The animal looked up.
"What? Who's there?"
"Me!"
The tapir turned its head and saw the little chick on his back.
"Oh. Hello young boy. Shouldn't you be in school?"
"Not me, I'm going to be a professional football player, and professional football players don't need school!" he replied proudly.
"Really? So you're training with the main team yet?"
"Uhm. Not yet. They're still afraid of my enormous talent, but they'll come around."
The tapir nodded with a grin.
"But suppose for a moment that I… that I wasn't thát good. What advice would you give me in order to reach, you know… my level?"
The tapir's smile widened
"I suggest you start training, very often."
Tiago nodded understandingly.
"That's what I would say too."
The old animal laughed.
Tiago was happy that the tapir was up for a chat and as both their interest lie with football, the topic was easy to guess. Tiago asked what experience the commentator himself had with the game, whether he remembered any great players and of course what he thought about Tiago's own style. He picked up a random object from the forest's floor and demonstrated a few of his tricks. Of course, he had careful reviewed the object first, making sure it wasn't too heavy. If so, he'd fail miserably, just as at the training site of the adult macaws.
It was when the sun shone in his eyes through the treetops that Tiago realized he had lost track of the time. School was already over and he was supposed to be home!
"Oh no! I'm sorry, I gotta fly now. See ya later." He uttered distressed.
"Okay. Keep it up champ!" The tapir replied.
On his way back he attempted to figure out an excuse for being late, yet was too busy to avoid any collisions to think of any. Back home he was exhausted, raising even more suspicion with his parents.
"There you are!"
His mother gave him a hug and for a moment he believed that he might not receive a punishment. This moment did not take very long.
"Where have you been?" His father spoke with reprimanding tone.
"I-eh…"
His father's gaze made him rather nervous and his mother and sisters silently awaited his answer. He couldn't think of any other than 'nowhere'. Blu gestured a second time.
"Come on, spill the beans."
An opportunity just arose! Complaining about the incomprehensive proverbs of his father was always a good way of changing the subject. Although for once he knew what it meant, he pretended not to.
"Why would I want to spill beans?"
"It means that-.." Bia tried, but Blu interrupted her.
"No-no-no. Don't you change the subject now."
Sadly it wasn't going to work today. He thought of something which he had caused him to be late before .
"I was just talking to some friends after school, nothing to worry about."
"Is that so, then what were you talking about?"
He thought of the tapir.
"Uhm…football?"
"Really. That's funny. You see, in order for you to talk with your friends at school, shouldn't you need to be at school?"
He was dumbstruck. How could his father know that he had skipped school today? He had walked right into a trap. His father drew an contented face. Tiago stared angrily at the ground. He had busted himself. Or had he? His father already knew he hadn't been there. So someone must have betrayed him.
"Thanks a lot Bia!" He said.
"Don't you dare blame your sister for your own misbehaviour." His mother fired.
"I can't believe you made her lie for you!" Blu groaned.
"Wait, she didn't-.."
"No, she didn't tell us. But you on the other hand have a lot to tell."
Whereas dinner normally proceeded rather vividly for the chicklet, Tiago ate quietly and mostly stared at the floor. The hostility he had felt for being betrayed, had seeped into a shroud of shame. Bia had not betrayed him and he had blamed her still. He had blamed her for having his back. It made him feel terrible. He only ate half as much as he usually did and when they were done, he started sweeping the cracked nutshells without any protest. The guilt gnawed on him like a dog on a bone. It wasn't until he was done with his chore that he realized how tired the day had left him. It wasn't the fun time he had envisioned when the plan had come to mind. It had been a nerve-wrecking day of anxiety and only an occasional bit of joy, not to mention how it had now finished. With him speaking horribly of his own sister.
He wanted to go to bed immediately and sleep to get to another day as quickly as he could, although there was one thing that he had to do first.
"Hey Bia."
She turned around and was surprised to see him. She opened her beak to address him, but he gestured her not to.
"Before you say anything, I wanted you to know that I'm sorry for blaming you."
"It is like Carla said, we are no tattletales." She answered indistinctly.
"I know and I'm sorry that I made you lie for me. It was unfair."
She nodded. He felt the need to give her a hug to show that he was really happy to have her as his sister, but he wasn't sure she'd appreciate it right now.
"So uhm, if I there's something I can do for you-.." he started.
"Well, if you could try not to throw around slugs anymore that would be a genuine start." She remarked.
He laughed and gave her his promise. When she turned around to continue tidying up her nest, he felt the need to say one last thing.
"I don't care what others say. I think you're cool Bia."
He then flew up to his nest. It felt a good to have apologized to his sibling and he already felt much less dreadful than before.
At his bedside, his father was waiting for him. He was afraid to get another sermon for him, but it turned out not to be the case. Instead his father gestured him to come closer and sit next to him.
"Look Tiago. I know you don't like having to learn all those things at school, but it's essential for your future, you know that right? Besides, you mother and I were worried sick when you were gone. Will you please promise me that you'll just go to school and not run off like that again? "
After today, Taigo had learned his lesson and was no longer hesitant in agreeing to his father's proposal.
"Yeah. I promise." He said relieved,.
"Oh… well. Okay."
Blu got up, allowing him to get into his bed.
"Hey, I'll tell you what. How about if you promise to continue going to school, I'll teach you my new football trick this weekend?"
"Really? Can't you show it to me now?"
His father perked an eyebrow.
"Right-right. This weekend. Okay. Thanks dad. "
His father rubbed his head and they wished each other goodnight. Tiago rolled over and his eyelids sank over his pupils. Maybe today wasn't such a bad day after all and with that thought on his mind he fell asleep.