RITCHIE AND HIS PIGEON WITH A BROKEN WING by Mel Zukerman
Six months have gone by since that pitiful looking bird with its right wing dragging on the wooden floor boards greeted Ritchie. Injured and unable to fly it trembled with fright in a corner of his rear balcony. "What am I supposed to do with you?" muttered Ritchie, looking at the bird and knowing its survival would depend on his kindness. His gut feeling telling him if he did nothing the rats would have this bird for dinner before he could say boo." Ritchie slowly stretched his arm forward toward the bird's legs. The bird hopped on to the back of his hand as if it was an old friend. Ritchie was struck with awe at how friendly it was, and how beautiful the bird looked and how colorful and smooth its feathers were. It was a pigeon, one of those fancy pigeons that his best and only friend Blackie was raising. He looked at the injured bird's wing and could see the broken bone protruding through the feathers and wondered if the bird will ever fly again. He gave it some water and some mixed bird seed that he found in the cupboard, put it in cardboard box and headed to Blackie's house.
"Ritchie this bird is a beauty. it's a male Persian High Flyer , but it's not mine and I have no idea who it belongs to. All my birds have leg bands. this bird doesn't, so if you want you can keep it."
"Yah right, what the heck am I going to do with a bird that can't fly?"
"Well, I can help you bandage the wing and there is a good chance it will heal and the bird will be able to fly again."
Blackie sure knew his stuff when it came to pigeons. He was the first of the boys on the block to start raising fancy pigeons, Porky followed close behind and within weeks some of the other boys had joined in as well, eventually forming a High Flyer pigeon club. Ritchie, shy and not very sociable because of his slight autism, had shown little interest in the hobby or any other hobby or sport. But there was something about this injured bird that intrigued him.
"Okay, but I don't know anything about raising pigeons you'll need to show me what to do."
"No problem, I can help you build a pigeon coop and I'll even tell you how to train the bird to return home."
Blackie, aware of Ritchie's handicap was always super nice to him. He really liked being Ritchie's friend and helping him.
"But First things first Ritchie, let's see what we can do with its wing."
Blackie went and got some gauze and the boys taped the bird's wing to its body with that sticky gauze tape so that it would not move and then wrapped gauze around its body over the injured wing making sure not to restrict the good wing or the bird's legs. For the next four weeks Ritchie cared for the bird, making sure the bandage was clean and re-wrapping it each week. He kept the bird in the cardboard box hoping eventually to build a coop for it once he was certain it could fly again.
The four weeks passed quickly and Ritchie was anxious to know if the bird can fly.
"What do you think; it's been four weeks; does the wing look like it's healed; do you think it will it be able to fly?"
Blackie checked the wing.
"It looks fine though we won't know until you let it out of the box, and you can't let it out before you train it to return home."
"How do I do that?"
"Well, you need a proper home for it and, like I promised I'll help you build one.
Then, you will have to keep it locked up for four weeks and feed it just once a day, at the same time every day, with approximately a handful of pigeon food. Now listen closely to this. After four weeks of feeding it at exactly the same time each day, you will let it out a half hour before feeding time, and then hope and pray that its inbuilt homing ability and its hunger pangs will compel it to return home. It probably will but you never know." Tomorrow I'll take you down to the railroad terminal; those box cars have seed and corn all over their floors. If we bring some sacks we can fill them up and we'll have food for our birds for a long time at no cost. By the way you will also need to get a mate for it if you want to keep it happy, because without a mate it might find one elsewhere and not return home. Oh, one more bit of advice, before letting your bird out to fly check the sky for predator hawks. They will swoop down on your pigeon and in a split second it will become a snack for a hungry hawk."
"Wow, that's scary, Thanks for telling me. I'll make sure to look at the sky first."
Ritchie was excited, his eyes lit up. he was going to be an owner of High Flyer pigeons. He imagined sitting up on the roof of his building watching his pigeons fly into the clouds and then return home to him. Ritchie decided he will name the bird Charlie and its mate, once he buys one, Angel.
Finding a pigeon with a broken wing totally changed Ritchie's life. Once quiet and introverted he was now bright-eyed and cheerful. doing things that in his wildest dreams he never dreamt of. With Blackie at his side he had built a coop with some scraps of wood found at a construction site, after finishing the coop he and Blackie went down to the railroad yards with a wagon and some potato sacks filing them with seed that they swept up off the floors of the rail cars, and now that he had a home for his birds he was ready to buy a mate for Charlie. Blackie took him to one of the local breeders where he found a female Persian High Flyer with beautiful checkered brown wings on a graceful white body and with Blackie's approval bought it.
"Blackie, I'm counting the days to let Charlie out and I'm even marking them off on a calendar. I can't wait to see him fly. Are you sure he will be able to fly."
"I am positive. His wing looks as good as new, But you need to have patience, because if you let him out too soon he may not return home."
The month of waiting was very difficult for him, although it gave him an opportunity to get to know his pigeons. Being responsible to feed and provide drinking water for them and water for them to bathe in, as well as cleaning up after them made him feel really grown-up. He also had them leg banded so he could identify them as his birds.
When the day to let Charlie out had finally arrived Ritchie was a nervous wreck. He was on edge all day worried that Charlie would not be able to fly.
"Today's the day, It's been four weeks and I'm letting Charlie out. Come over to the house after school."
"Alright, I'll be there to watch and don't worry, Charlie will be able to fly. He's got those long wings and that tall sleek body. He could turn out to be a champion High Flyer."
Blackie knew what he was saying. He was an expert on High Flyers. For the past two years he had won the summer High Flyer competition receiving a trophy for having the highest flying bird. Ritchie looked up to Blackie and trusted him as he would a big brother.
"I'm here Ritchie do you want to let him out now."
"What do you think, should I do it?"
"Well you can't keep him cooped up forever. I say open the door and let him go; whatever will happen will happen."
Ritchie opened the coop door and both boys stepped back and waited to see what Charlie would do. Angel, Charlie's mate was corralled in a separate part of the coop so she couldn't come out. It took a minute or two before Charlie showed himself but he did not stay out long. He turned around and went back in. Ritchie's heart skipped a beat he thought for sure that Charlie went back in because he wasn't able to fly. Another few minutes went by and this time Charlie came out and stayed on the landing perch at the front of the door just looking around, kind of sizing up the neighborhood. He then pushed himself off the perch flying just twenty feet to a nearby roof and then flying back to the perch. It was as if he was testing his wings. Then after another minute or two Charlie took off heading straight up in a slow circular climb gaining altitude with each turn eventually reaching high enough to be almost out of sight. He had become a speck in the sky.
"Blackie, let's climb up on the roof where we can get a better view of Charlie."
"Good idea."
They climbed up the steps of the fire escape to the top of the roof and sat there for a good half hour watching Charlie circle the clouds, but always in sight and never going very far from home, finally descending and landing on Ritchie's shoulder, as if it was a gesture of thanks.
"I knew it, I knew it, I said that he would be a real high flying bird. You've got yourself a winner with Charlie."
Blackie was flabbergasted at the height that Charlie had reached. He sensed that if Ritchie enters Charlie in the summer "High Flyer" contest his birds will have a serious competitor.
The contest took place each summer on the first Sunday in July and it was just among the boys in the neighborhood. Each boy would put five dollars into a pot for each pigeon that they entered. The money would go to pay for the prize. The winner would receive a trophy with his name and the name of his bird inscribed on it. The pigeons would be released from the rooftops or balconies of the boy's homes all at exactly the same time, preciously at three in the afternoon. That was the time most everyone exercised their birds and it was also right before feeding time. The birds were watched for a period of thirty minutes and it was the height that the birds reached and the length of time it remained high within those thirty minutes that was judged. Some of the dads would be up on a roof top keeping tabs on the birds and serving as judges for the event.
For the past two years Blackie's and Porky's birds dominated the contest with Porky always coming in second best. The unbelievable altitude reached by Blackie's birds sparked a rumor that he fed them steroids. None of the boys took the rumor seriously and they really didn't care, they were just having fun, but the dads did, deciding that the droppings of the presumptive winning bird be tested for drugs before officially declaring it the winner. What the boys were not aware of was the serious betting by some of the fathers that had crept into this competition.
"Well, did you make your mind up whether you'll enter Charlie in the "High Flyer" contest?"
"I decided I will. I'm saving some of my spending money so I'll have the five dollar entrance fee."
"You know It's only a couple of months until the contest, you'll have to fly Charlie every day if you want him to be in shape for the event. I let my birds out to exercise as soon as I get home from school."
"Okay, I'll do the same. I'll let him out as soon as I get home, we'll do it together. and I'll be sure I won't miss a day."
During the next couple of months Ritchie could not keep his mind off his pigeons. Each day as soon as school was out Ritchie and Blackie would hurry home to let their birds out to stretch their wings. They would both sit on their roof tops watching them fly, marveling at how high their birds would get. The sky above the street was littered with pigeons. There were High Flyers, along with Tumblers, and Tipplers which would perform rollovers and summersaults in the air, all of them flying in a circle creating a show for the neighborhood. The boys who owned the birds were scattered on their rooftops and balconies all keeping sight of their birds and enjoying the show they were putting on. A few fathers were watching as well trying to get a heads-up on which bird to put their money on.
On the morning of the contest Blackie came knocking at Ritchie's door.
"did you hear that there were hawks in the sky this morning?"
Hawks was the one danger that all pigeon owners feared.
"I won't let my pigeons out if I see a hawk and you better not let Charlie or Angel out either."
All of the boys were anxious about the hawk alert and every one of them had their eyes fixed on the sky praying that the hawk would not be there at start time.
I sure hope the race is not cancelled, Charlie is primed for take-off. He's been flying higher than ever this past week."
Since the race was scheduled in the late afternoon there was no call for cancellation by the judges but they too were watching the sky.
At ten to three everyone agreed that the sky was clear and safe for the contest to get started. The judges were in place and the boys had their pigeons in their hands ready to let them go. Exactly at three the horn sounded and the birds were sent flying. The sound of the wings flapping in the air was exhilarating to the boys. They had been waiting all year for this day. Ritchie was anxious. He badly wanted Charlie to win. He was proud of Charlie recovering from his broken wing and becoming a contestant in the "High Flyer" contest. He anticipated bringing the trophy home with his name inscribed on it. It was the first time in his life he had competed in a sport and it would be the first trophy he had ever won and he knew his mom and dad would be very proud of him. He kept his eyes on Charlie and the other birds as they climbed the sky. Fifteen minutes had gone by but it was, as yet, difficult to tell which bird was higher but time will tell for some of the birds will soon drop lower and the leader will become clearer. Blackie was also keeping a close watch and so was Porky whose bird was in the running as well. At about twenty five minutes into the contest all of the birds except three remained up high the rest descended and were flying at a lower altitude. Ritchie was absolutely sure he knew which one of the three was Charlie and he kept a careful watch on it. Blackie's bird was to the right of Charlie but slightly lower, and Porky's bird was close-by but a bit lower. With two minutes to go and Charlie still highest, Ritchie's face lit up and he began yelling we won, we won we're getting a trophy. Blackie looking even happier than Ritchie signaled a thumbs-up acknowledging him as the winner. The judges would not call the race until the full thirty minutes elapsed.
Suddenly from out of a small puffy cloud a large black bird with its wings flapping rapidly came streaking across the sky toward Charlie scooping him out of his orbit. The hawk had Charlie He was a goner. Ritchie screamed at the top of his lungs, tears rolled down his cheeks dropping on to the metal roof top, his sobs could have been heard on the street below. He kept repeating over and over, "Why did it have to be Charlie, why Charlie?" The hawk showed no mercy. It flew around showing its catch and it had the audacity to fly over Ritchie's head with Charlie hanging from its claws. Ritchie was devastated. Charlie was more than a pigeon to him, he had nursed its broken wing, he had trained it and fed it, he had built a coop for it, he provided a mate for it and now he's gone, becoming nothing more than a meal for that wretched hawk. The pain was too much for him to bear. He ran to his room crying. He lost Charlie and he would not be getting a trophy. The high point of his life turned into his worst day ever. He decided right then he wanted nothing to do with pigeons again. After a few minutes his phone started ringing, and there were knocks on the front door of his house but Ritchie wouldn't answer, He was in no mood to see anyone. He didn't want anyone's sympathy.
Somehow between the sound of the ringing phone and the knocking at the door Ritchie heard the flutter of wings on his balcony and jumped up to look out the window. Standing upon the landing perch was Charlie. He could not believe his eyes. How was it possible? He saw the hawk scoop up Charlie. He saw Charlie dangling from the hawk's claws. Could he have been mistaken; did Charlie manage to break loose? Someone was now pounding at the door, this time harder and faster. Ritchie answered. It was Blackie.
" it wasn't Charlie! It wasn't Charlie! It was my bird that got caught by that hawk, not yours. I know everyone thought it was your bird up there but it wasn't it was mine, and the judges said that since my bird IS gone and can't be tested for drugs you will be declared the winner by default and get the trophy."
Ritchie began crying again this time feeling bad for his best friend's loss.
"It's not fair, you should get the trophy. your pigeon was the winner, not Charlie. I'm just happy to have Charlie back."
"Don't worry, I'll get over it. I have a whole flock of birds and plenty of trophies. now go get Charlie so he can be tested and let's go get your trophy."
They walked out with their arms draped over each other's shoulders.