Love. This one word is the fundamental basis for our lives. Four simple letters form one of the most powerful words in our vocabulary. But what is it exactly? What make it so strong? Some would argue that it is nothing more than an evolutionary tool developed to ensure the success of a species. Others insist that it is a needless addition to our psychological makeup, only existing because of societal standards. However, there is yet one more explanation to what love is. But instead of presenting the argument like with the previous two, I will let you arrive at the answer. I will impart to you the meaning through a story that rides on the heels a great narrative.
I now leave you with one question to reflect upon: What is love?
It was the morning of Febuary 14th in Rio de Janeiro. The sun had just began its ascent over the horizon, providing life giving light for the earth. The ocean gleamed from the morning rays, which gave a feeling of peace to the inhabitants. However, not everyone was having such a peaceful morning. Off in the distance were two blue colored dots falling, in addition to a disheveled airplane hurtling towards the water. The two blue specks were almost indistinguishable from the beautiful morning backdrop. The first of the two was quite a distance away from the second, and was falling towards the ocean at a brisk rate. The second dot, somewhat above the first, was closing the gap between them as it fell at a much faster rate than the first. If one were to magnify this scene they would see that the two dots were more than just blue colored specks, but instead birds. But these are more than just your average avifauna. They are supposedly the last two Blue Macaws in existence. While an odd couple in regards to their personality, between the two of them, they have experienced more facets of life than any of us could ever hope to. They include, but are not limited to, happiness, sadness, pain, comfort, loss, gain, hate, and most recently: love. The very reason why there are two birds falling instead of one at this moment, is because of love. The next logical question would be, "Why aren't the birds flying?" Well, the first macaw had her wing crushed by a precarious metal cage, while the second was so domesticated he couldn't fly.
After a brief moment, the second macaw collided with the first and sent them spinning while falling. This male macaw's name was Blu. In the past 48 hours, he was torn from his home of 15 years, was brought into a strange country where the seasons are reversed, was forced into an synthetic jungle in hopes to "save his species" only to be attacked by the last of his kind, was smuggled, tripped, hyperventilated, got attacked by monkeys, almost got cut in half by a circular saw, was smuggled a second time, fell off a truck, fell off a cliff, fell off a hang glider, and most recently jumped off a plane. Notice how he "jumped" instead of "fell" off the plane. While he definitely is falling, he had consciously made the decision to jump. Possibly for the first time in his life. Why? Because, even though he could not fly, Blu wanted to be with the one he loved until the end. His love was completely allocated to Jewel, a female blue macaw. As the force of Blu's collision with Jewel slowly wore off and the disorienting spinning slowed, Jewel, out of complete disbelief that Blu would actually seal his fate by jumping screamed at him. "Blu you're crazy! What are you doing?!" So much went through Blu's mind in the second between Jewel's question and his response. If it wasn't for him, they both wouldn't be in this situation right now. He put himself, and more importantly, Jewel in danger. However, none of that matters anymore. While you can't change the past, you can try to amend the present in hope for a better future. Blu then looked more intently into Jewel's beautiful eyes and said something that would change his life forever.
"I'm not gonna let you go!" Blu told Jewel in a caring tone. "We're chained to each other birds, remeber?!"
For the majority of their time together, Blu was chained together with Jewel. At first it was an inconvenience, but towards the end neither of them really wanted to be separated from one another. While it's true that they no longer were physically connected, they still were "chained to each other". The chain that was once around their talons now encompassed their hearts, forever bonding them together with love.
Jewel, who was shocked by Blu's actions (this was the same Blu who was practically scared by his own shadow and ate pancakes for breakfast) suddenly realized the depth of his affection and responded by locking her beak into his in a kiss. Now instead Blu was shocked, and his eyes sprung open due to this unexpected event. Blu soon relaxed and closed his eyes. After Jewel retracted, Blu was left in complete euphoria.
Suddenly Blu felt something he had never experienced in his life before. His heart began beating with more radiance than ever before. Instinctually Blu's wings spread open and, right before the two macaws met the ocean and their certain demise, he grabbed Jewel in his talons and redirected their velocity from vertical to horizontal. In one powerful surge Blu propelled Jewel and himself upwards in order to fly at a more comfortable altitude.
Jewel was in complete incredulity and yelled out to Blu. "Blu! You're flying!"
"Your right! I'm not an ostrich! I'm not an ostrich!" Blu, somewhat in disbelief, excitedly responded.
Meanwhile, at an old airport in Rio, three people were resting on a discarded plane wing. The first was Tulio, a native citizen of Rio and a doctor of ornithology. He was comforting Linda, a fair skinned woman from Moose lake Minnesota. She also happened to be Blu's owner/companion, and was distraught that she had lost her best friend to smugglers. Finally, a young boy named Fernando was also resting on the wing. He had befriended to two adults, despite the fact that he was the one who originally smuggled Blu and Jewel. Out of nowhere, Fernando noticed two Blue colored dots on the horizon whom, as he focused, he immediately recognized to be none other than Blu and Jewel.
"Linda!" Fernando Exclaimed. Linda then turned her attention to where Fernando was looking and recognized someone who she had given up hope to ever see again.
"Blu?! It's Blu, Tulio! It's Blu! And he's flying! My Blu is flying!" Linda yelled enthusiastically.
Up until this point, Blu thought he was grasping at straws by looking at the airport in an attempt to find Linda and Tulio. He already had a near collision with a cable car while flying over the city of Rio, and was beginning to lose confidence. However, hearing Linda's voice again was enough to calm his nerves for the brief interim. Blu landed on the tarmac and gently placed Jewel on her side. Tulio, who was dumbfounded when he first saw Blu coming back down, now had his act together and was curious as to why Blu was carrying Jewel. Upon further inspection he noticed that Jewel's wing appeared damaged.
"Here, let me see." Tulio caringly offered. Jewel immediately shrunk back, afraid due to her rough past with human interaction. She looked up to Blu, who then gave her a signal that it was ok. Tulio then gently picked up Jewel in his hands while Blu flew up onto his shoulder.
"Well, her wing is definitely broken. We need to take her back to the aviary soon or else Jewel's bones may harden." Tulio said with some urgency. Jewel was starting to get worried as thoughts shot through her mind. "What if I can't fly again? What if I can't ever be free in the jungle again? What if something goes wrong and…" Her thoughts were interrupted by a gentle pressure on her shoulder. She looked up to see Blu, who had walked down to her, and rested his wing on her good shoulder in order to comfort her. "It's ok Jewel. Everything is going to be fine." Blu said with a warm smile.
Blu and Jewel turned their attention towards Linda when they noticed that Tulio had walked over to her. "Um, Linda? I don't think we can use the float." Tulio interjected as he noticed that Linda was starting to climb inside.
"What do you mean we can't use the float?" Linda inquired a little worried.
"There's no way we could get this monster through the streets, it just can't be done." Tulio explained.
"So how do expect us to get there then?" Linda retorted.
Tulio was about to respond when he was cut off by Fernando. "Hey guys!? Do you think this will work?" Fernando walked up with an old silver colored bike.
"Hey kid? Where did you get that?" Tulio was puzzled that Fernando somehow had conveniently come across a bike. "Tulio, never mind that. We need to get Jewel out of here, now!" Linda interrupted.
Tulio's eyes sprung open as he looked down at his hands. Jewel seemed to be in a great deal of pain, while Blu was doing the best he could to comfort her. They both looked up at him with worried eyes. Tulio then redirected his attention to Linda and Fernando.
"Come on, lets go."
Back at the aviary, the events of the smuggling were now a seemingly distant memory as the employees were doing their best to control the discordant situation without Tulio's guidance. "Ahhhh! Get him off me!" One employee screamed as he ran around the room with a scarlet macaw on his head. The rest were doing their best to cope with the current state. Out of nowhere the main entrance door abruptly burst open. Standing at the entrance were two street performers and a young boy. The commotion inside the room stopped forthwith as all of the employees and birds just stared at the three out of place people. One of the employees squinted his eyes and, after recognizing who the mysterious people were, shouted out "Tulio!" Tulio then proceed into the operating room with a serious and determined face. He called for two of his "skilled" aides to come to his side. "Mark, Wendy, come with me." The two aides followed Tulio as his blue colored boots squeaked when they made contact with the floor.
Once inside the operating room, Tulio gently placed Blu and Jewel on the metal operating table in the center of the room. The assistants immediately got to work and gave Jewel a sedative, to which she was unaware. "I'm sorry Blu, but you can't be in here while we operate. There's not enough space, and I can't risk anything happening to you or Jewel with all of this dangerous equipment around." Blu nodded and looked down at Jewel with glossy eyes.
"I'll be waiting for you when this is over, Jewel." He said calmly.
Then Jewel leaned up and pulled Blu down into a kiss. Hopefully this wouldn't be their last.
After they parted, Linda walked up and extended her arm for Blu to perch himself. Blu saw this out of his peripheral, and backed up onto her wrist without losing eye contact with Jewel. Linda looked up at Tulio. "Be careful." Tulio nodded in reply. Linda turned around and started walking towards the exit. Blu climbed up onto Linda's shoulder while still maintaining eye contact with Jewel, and watched her as the doors to the operating room closed. Linda and Blu returned to the room they were in earlier. The assistants had finally managed to recover from the bird apocalypse, and everything was now silent. Linda sat down on a chair. She looked to her right, and noticed that Fernando was sleeping peacefully. Linda smiled a little. She looked over to Blu who was on her shoulder. Blu was staring off into the distance with a blank expression. Thoughts swirled around inside Blu's head like a tempest. Eventually it became too much for him to handle and his legs grew weak. Linda managed to catch him in her hands as he fell off her shoulder. As the world around Blu went black, he quietly whispered one word to himself before he lost all consciousness due to fear and anxiety.
"Jewel"
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my story, and thank you for your support. Please review if you can. Future chapters may be more dialogue based. This story will lay the groundwork for possible sequels, so I wanted to be descriptive. Have fun and keep writing!