I said two weeks I would post chapter 2, but I found it very hard to write without opinions or views, or actually seeing the chapter. On Word, I don't really see the whole chapter until I post it up here, and then I will update it with corrections if necessary. I usually don't have this problem, but I'm still busy in the summer. So, basically, two weeks of waiting turned into four days of waiting for those interested in my story, and I thank you.
In the bird community, tracking birds proved to be difficult. Even in civilizations where technology was prominent, trying to find a missing person was not instant. Birds heavily relied on what was heard and trusted the bird that told them about what he or she saw or heard. It was just like the game telephone, where a message was relayed from one person to the next; except for birds, it was not a game. Everything tweeted was taken to be true.
Word had spread about Jewel and Blu moving with their chicks to Rio. Most birds neither knew where they went or why, but they were not too alarmed of the situation. Whoever relayed the message first seemed calm about since there was no urgency in the message. The message itself took about two weeks to spread itself among the jungles near Rio.
Soon, a few days passed, and then a week, and then a month. No new news of Blu and Jewel rose ever since the first tweet. Yet, no one even bothered searching for them. Even their friends did not call for a search. To them, if they were in Rio and nowhere to be seen, there was only one place that Blu and Jewel had to be: the bird sanctuary.
His friends were right… Well, Rafael was right and just told the other birds. For the past month, Blu and Jewel had raised their chicks up in the breeding cage, where Blu and Jewel first meet. They had transformed to featherless babies to feathery, walking chicks. The chicks' looks were just the same as their looks in Blu's nightmare, which Blu thought to be both good and bad. Near the end of the second week, the chicks were no able to walk around safely in the sanctuary. They would either accompany Blu and Jewel out of the breeding bird cage or Linda would take them about the sanctuary, which irritated Jewel. So to ease tension between Linda and Jewel about Linda taking the chicks, Linda would also take Jewel along with the ride. When Jewel and the chicks were only with Linda, Blu would either be sleeping, studying through books or the internet, or spending his time with Tulio to help him if possible. Despite being weird, Blu discovered Tulio to be a smart guy.
By sometime in the third week, the chicks started to speak. First, it was Joseph, and then Flor, and then Xavier. Joseph's first words were 'mama and papa', Flor's first words were 'I love you' and Xavier's first words were 'crap, not again'. That one was thanks to the janitor who would clean the cage. It was not his fault for saying that, unaware of the chicks present. The poor man sometimes lost control in his arms and would drop the thing he held and then would say it. This still irritated Jewel, and she blamed the man.
After realizing they can speak, Blu introduced them to the world of media. He would take the kids to watch an hour of television a day on those baby programs like on Nick Jr. or PBS kids. This would be fine, but Blu would not watch television with the kids. Unfortunately for him, Xavier seemed to have figured out how to change channels on the third day of watching television. Once Blu left, the kids would watch Spongebob, Batman, the Simpsons, and Family Guy. It was not until the following Monday, a full week of the kids watching television, that something was up. It was that Monday that Joseph uttered the word 'shit' when he got frustrated in assembling a puzzle. It was also that same day when Jewel acted like if she had a heart attack.
Almost two months had passed. The kids were now accustomed to human society. Food was prepared and never scavenged in the wild for. The nights were peaceful with soothing music. Electricity and electronics were second-to-none for the survival of the chicks. Jewel feared this. Today was June 27th. What was significant about the day was that it was the day Jewel decided that they should plan on returning to the jungle. Jewel entered the kids' lounge that was in the bird sanctuary. Tulio designated this room a place where researchers and tourists who were interested in touring the bird sanctuary could leave their kids or teens. It was a green-colored room with a few shelves of toys and games, a gaming entertainment system, and a desktop computer that was mostly emptied of children for almost a whole month. Flor and Joseph were watching a movie called "The Lion King" on the television screen, and Xavier was playing a plat-forming game on the computer. Jewel flew in and landed in front of the television, not really blocking it from her chicks.
"My precious chicks, I think its time."
Joseph was the only one who looked down at his mother.
"Time? Time for what, Mama?"
"Time to go."
Joseph had not replied. As Jewel was answering, he lifted his head up to continue watching the movie. Jewel looked over at Flor and Xavier who were also not listening to her. Jewel's content expression dropped.
"Um…kids?"
The kids did not reply. Annoyed, she flew over to the LCD television and pressed the power button to turn it off. She then flew over to the desk where the computer was stationed on. She landed and walked under the desk, unaware to Xavier who was on the top of the desk tapping the keys on the keyboard. She found the power strip and turned it off. The monitor went black, and soon, she heard Xavier's voice.
"Nooooooooo. I was so close. Who-who did this? Joseph, it was you, wasn't it?"
Joseph faced Xavier.
"I'm over here. Didn't you see Mama?"
Xavier looked down over the desk. He noticed a bird coming out from underneath the desk, staring at him. It was his mother.
"Mama, why did you turn the game off? I was about to save the princess."
"You weren't listening to me."
"You were talking?"
Jewel narrowed her eyes. Xavier flinched at the sight of it.
"Go to the couch."
"But Mama-"
"I said go. I need to talk to you all of you now."
Xavier sighed and walked down the bird ladder Linda had built so they can get on the desk. He walked across the floor and climbed up another ladder used to get on the green, comfy couch. He sat next to Joseph. Flor, who was nest to Joseph, faced Jewel.
"Mama, are we in trouble?"
"No. It just annoys me that my own chicks don't listen to me."
"But Mama," started Joseph, "we do listen. Right, Xavier?"
Xavier had closed his eyes, as if he was resting. Joseph tapped his brother's wing to wake him up. Xavier slowly opened his eyes and faced Xavier.
"What? Were you saying something?"
Joseph looked back at his mother.
"Me and Flor listen."
Jewel shook her head.
"Well, I need all of you to listen, especially to what I have to say."
"Is it a surprise?" wondered Flor.
"I wouldn't call it a surprise."
"Not a surprise," wondered Joseph. "What can it be then?"
"Maybe Mama's going to tell us to meet Papa, and he will tell us the surprise," stated Xavier.
Joseph shook his head.
"I hope not. Most of the surprises Papa gives us hurt my head."
"Don't worry, Joseph," said Jewel, remembering Blu's educational surprises. "The surprise isn't your father's...um...teachings. Now...what is something a bird needs to know?"
The three chicks looked at each other, thinking intensely. They looked back at Jewel. Joseph spoke first.
"How to get food?"
Jewel thought about it.
"Well…that's important. But how would you find food?"
"Go to the kitchen and open the fridge. All the food is there."
Jewel shook her head.
"What if you want it fresh?"
"Then you call Dole and have them send it to you," answered Xavier.
Jewel sighed and scratched her head, thinking. She dropped her wing when she thought of another example.
"Okay. Let's think of something else? How do birds move around?"
"I know this one," said Xavier. "They just hop into the car."
"No," answered Jewel.
"… Then a bus."
Jewel sighed.
"This is what I was afraid of."
"Why are you upset, Mama?" asked Joseph. "That's what we usually do. All the food is in the fridge, and Tulio or Linda puts us in the car to go somewhere. Don't other birds do that?"
"… Unless Mama is talking about the birds that we see on T.V. and what they do," said Flor.
"Yeah, right," said Xavier. "Besides, those birds are cartoons. We are real birds. This is what real birds do. They just sit in the couch and watch TV."
Jewel faced Flor.
"Meja, what do those birds do in the TV?"
"They live in the jungle."
Jewel smiled.
"Yes. That's it. They live in the jungle."
"But that's make-believe, Mama," pointed out Xavier.
"It's real. It's just that we've been here to raise you up in here that you think this is how birds live, but it is time to go back."
"Go back?" wondered Joseph. "Go back where?"
"To the jungle."
"The jungle?" Xavier thought aloud. "Is there anything out there to plug a computer?"
Jewel shook her head.
"Nope," she replied. "It's just us and nature."
"Then where I am supposed to play games?"
"We don't need electri-electra…those things."
"Electronics?" wondered Flor.
"Yes," said Jewel. "We don't need electronics. We can have fun playing in the creek…or playing hide-and-go-seek."
"You mean like those poor, dirty kids we see playing in the street while going to the bookstore? Some of them don't look that happy."
"Xavier!" snapped Jewel. "What did I tell you about calling people dirty?"
Xavier thought about it.
"Make sure they smell bad first before you call them dirty."
"Xavier! I have had-"
As she was scolding at her son, Blu had entered the room, curious on what Jewel was talking about. He heard her voice coming from the room; he just did not know what they were talking about. He flew in and landed next to Jewel as she finished her sentence.
"-enough of your behavior and actions. Try to be more considerate of others. Though they have different lives, it gives you no right to make fun of them."
"What's going on?" asked Blu.
Jewel decided to let her annoyance with her son's behavior not control her on such a big day. She decided to drop it. She looked over at Blu and smiled.
"Today's the day."
"Today's the day? …Wait. You mean you want to move back today?"
"Not today, but sometime tomorrow."
"Why not another month?"
Jewel narrowed her eyes, making Blu flinch.
"It-it was just a suggestion."
"Blu, we need to go."
"But why? We're perfectly safe here. We have everything we need, plus some more."
Jewel shook her head.
"No, we don't. What about the outside? How about our friends? How about our life in the jungle? Remember we talked about it? You seemed confident living there. But those dreams…they changed your mind, Blu. Dreams are just dreams of your emotions. Nothing more."
"But have you ever wondered why you dream the things you dream of? Do they have any significance? They say every little thing in a dream means something."
"Who says that?"
"Well…um… Just them?"
"Just them?" questioned Jewel with her eyes half-closed. "You mean the internet."
Blu nervously tapped his wings.
"Well…um… I mean it doesn't seem to lie. Why would people lie about math, physics, health, and beliefs on the internet?"
Jewel wing-palmed her forehead.
"Blu, birds been living without the internet for some many years and relying on instincts. I think we can also survive without it."
"That's because birds don't know it," said Xavier. "If birds saw how wonderful it was, they would never want to let go of its magical powers."
As Xavier started to say magical powers, he used spirit fingers to describe the magic. Blu and Jewel looked from their son to each other with confused looks. Blu looked back at Xavier and shook his head.
"Have you've been watching "Bring It On"?"
"N-n…no," Xavier answered innocently.
Blu looked back at his mate.
"Probably some time away from electronics would be nice."
Xavier half-closed his eyes. Jewel shook her head.
"Not some time, Blu. I want it all the time."
"But Jewel, I think-"
His mate's blue eyes narrowed.
"No. I'm tired of debating this. My decision is final. We have to live in the jungle. That's our true way of life."
Blu rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah, but...uh..."
Jewel's death glare towards Blu became more intense. Blu knew he could not win. He sighed.
"Fine. We'll leave tomorrow."