Pictures by Zebraanimator and Lindsey-Cullen1 on DeviantART if you want to know what they look like :) Thank you for doing that!
Joseph - 16
Nina - 6
Emily - 13
Mason - 8
Riley - 10
Clara - 5
Natty - 9
Halie - 14
Marie - 8
Dan - 12
Ricky - 13
Lisa - 7
Carlo - 11
Mikey - 9
Cedric - 3
Halie was reading a book about Hobbits and magic rings when she heard the thump against her window. The sound baffled her,it sounded slightly hollow, not like a rock or stick, reluctantly putting the book down she made her way over to the window. She inspected the small flower bed that as attached to the outside of her window. She'd been using it to test the growing rates of flowers in various fertilizers but there was an extra object in the box.
"Oh." She gasped
Sitting between her daffodils was a small bird with brown feathers, a sparrow. It was beautiful. The bird was laying awkwardly on it's side, it must of hurt itself when it hit her window. Gently Halie lifted the bird into her palm, it gave a small frightened chirp.
"It's ok little one." She cooed, gently stroking the soft feathers on the birds back with the back of her finger.
Gingerly she placed the bird on her pillow, it hopped up onto it's feet, but it didn't fly. She didn't know how to care for a bird, she figured she better start with a home for it. It didn't take her long to rustle up a cardboard box and place it full of a towel to form a bed for it. The bird chirped again, Halie smiled.
"Your wing looks sore," She noted, "Bird's bones are almost hollow or something like that, I read it in a book. Maybe I should bandage it for you."
After some careful cutting some white bandages she wrapped the birds wing, it jumped about the box and screeched a bit but eventually she had it set. Afterwards the bird jumped onto her finger and gave a satisfied chirp. Halie smiled.
"Well, since you will be living in my room until you can fly, I'd better give you a name." She decided, "Something special and not too ordinary."
The bird hoped up her arm and settled on her shoulder, maybe he;d been around people before?
"Giovanni." Halie decided patting the birds head softly, "Thats a prestigious name."
Halie placed Giovanni back in his box and went to find something for him to eat, what do sparrows like eating? Worms and bugs obviously, but she didn't have any that were safe for bird consumption, they were all being used for experiments. She'd seen people throw bread and seed to ducks in the park before, maybe sparrows would like bread too.
As it turns out they had some whole grain bread in their cupboard, seeds and bread in one. Hopefully Giovanni would take to it. Breaking off a small piece she crumbled it between her fingers into Giovanni's box, the bird inspected the crumbs for a few moments before gobbling them down.
Halie spent the next three days in her room with Giovanni, she spent her time observing him and writing it all down in a notebook while devouring aviary text books. From them she was able to deduce that Giovanni was about a year old and it would take a little over a week for his wing to heal.
She'd just been settling down to start reading the fourth chapter of her current book, Giovanni was trying to eat a piece of popcorn and failing. He hopped along the rim of the bowl pecking at the pits of blown up corn, making a frustrated chirping noise as he went.
"Popcorn isn't for sparrows Giovanni," She giggled, "Quiet down I'm trying to read."
"So, this is where you have been these past few days."
Halie turned to see Sherlock standing in her doorway, Giovanni squeaked.
"He ran into my window." She smiled softly, "I've been looking after him."
"You can't keep a sparrow Halie." Sherlock sighed, "If you do, everybody else will start taking in wild animals."
"I know." Halie smiled sadly, "I'll unbandage his wing when it's better and let him fly away."
Giovanni gave a peep and climbed onto Halie's finger, cocking his head at Sherlock with curiosity. Sherlock raised an eyebrow and held out his palm for the bird. At first he hopped backwards toward Halie but after a few seconds it tentatively leapt onto Sherlock's open hand. Fluttering his wings slightly as he went. The detective held the bird close to his face, gazing at it critically for a few seconds.
"You have done a good job caring for it." He noted proudly.
Giovanni chirped again and to Halie's surprise flew off Sherlock's hand and back to her shoulder, somewhat shakily. She beamed.
...
Three days later the excited bird was flying around her room, singing it's little heart out. Halie recreated the whistle and Giovanni flew to her landing on her open palm. She gave the bird a soft pat on the head and opened up her window.
"Off you go Giovanni, back to the sky where you belong." She sighed happily.
For a few moments the bird hovered in the air as if uncertain before taking to the sky. Halie grinned and watched it as it swooped over the street below and off into the sky.
She watched it until the tiny bird was just a speak on the horizon.
A bird hit my window today and I patted it and helped it up before it flew away. It wasn't a sparrow but it did inspire me to write this. I chose Halie because I wanted to show her softer side.