Nathan Previs about 2300 words

nathanprevis3@gmail.com

THE GREEN PARAKEET

by Nathan Previs

In a small town in Queensland, Australia, Jonah and his mother would play outside while

his father worked. In a nest in their backyard, there lay only one single parakeet egg. Everyday,

Jonah and his mother would go out to the tree waiting for the egg to hatch.

“Mum, when will the egg hatch?” Jonah asked.

“I don’t know honey, but we will keep checking everyday, I promise. Come now, what

would you like for lunch?” she said.

That was their routine every day starting at the end of June. Jonah would wake up and his

mother would make him breakfast, then he would check the bird nest for any updates.

Afterwards they would play a game or he would help his mother with chores until his father

came home for supper. One night after supper, Jonah’s mother came to tuck him in after he

finished reading a new comic book.

“Mum, do you believe in superheroes? Like the ones who can fly, and shoot lasers from

their hands?” Jonah asked.

“Of course! Superheros are all around us, some are super strong or super fast…”

“And can fly?” Jonah said.

“Yes, and can fly,” she laughed, “ I wish I could fly. Wouldn’t that be cool to touch the

sky and the clouds and see the world from up above. Grandma Maggie could fly, you know.”

“She could? Maybe you can fly, then. Maybe I can fly, too!” Jonah said excitingly.

“Maybe, but now it's time for bed, goober. Save the flying for another day,” She said as

she kissed him goodnight.

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The next day was very unusual. Usually, by the time Jonah would wake up on a

Wednesday morning, his father was already gone for work, but today he was still here. The

house had a very quiet and melancholy atmosphere. Jonah went up to his father and asked what

was wrong.

“Your mother is very sick today, buddy, I have to take her to the hospital. You’ll be okay

here. I called Grandma Ava and she's coming to see you.”

“Okay, where is Mum?” Jonah asked.

Jonah went over to his mother’s room, where she lay in her bed pale and raspily

breathing.

“Can you not see the egg today, Mum?” Jonah asked.

“Not today, love. You and Grandma can go see it. I’ll be back soon though. I love you so

much.”

Jonah’s grandma came to his house an hour later, and he gave his mother and father a

hug goodbye. He watched them drive down the dirt path on the way to the hospital as he

continued to wave at them from the window. His Grandma Ava made him eggs and sausages for

breakfast while they talked.

“Is my mum going to be okay Grandma?” Jonah asked.

“Yes, your mother is very strong, sweety.”

Jonah continued to eat his breakfast and asks another question.

“Do you believe in superheroes, Grandma?”

“No, but I do believe in angels, and that someday we all become angels, to watch after

those we love.”
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Jonah scarfed down the rest of his breakfast quickly so he could go outside. He then ran

to the backyard towards the nest in the tree. The world around him seemed to stay still for a

moment. The sounds of nature grew quiet. The birds were not chirping. The branches of trees not

blowing. The only sound Jonah could hear at this moment was his own breath, and his heart

pounding in his chest. He paid no attention to anything else, except for what he saw inside the

bird’s nest. The tiny white egg appeared to be moving ever so slowly, and tiny cracks emerged

onto it. Jonah stared in awe at the hatching bird egg. He didn’t want to blink because he afraid he

might miss something. He watched, and time seemed to pass without any notice. The sun was

sinking casting an orange hue around him. His grandmother called out to him to come inside, but

he stayed transfixed, almost paralyzed. He watched as a pink and thin body slowly emerged from

the shell and into the world. It was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. He reached his hand

in the nest, about to touch the baby parakeet, but he refrained not wanting to disturb its’ beauty.

The parakeets eyes were closed, but Jonah’s were wide open and so was his mouth. In that

moment, he felt he was witnessing history being made. However, he grew sad because he wished

his mother was there to see it. But, Jonah’s mother never came home. She had died in the

hospital bed the same day.

The next few weeks were filled with grief. A month passed and Jonah’s mother was not

there for his 8th birthday. Jonah tried to remain strong for his father, who was very upset at the

time. One day, his father took him to a beach where they played frisbee, swam in the water, and

got ice cream. After a very hard month, things were beginning to seem okay and back to normal.

That night, however, when they arrived back home, Jonah couldn’t help but cry because he
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missed his mother very much. Outside his window that night, he heard faint chirping. He got up

out of his bed and opened the blinds to see a green parakeet at his window, fluttering its wings,

looking as though it wanted to come inside. Jonah opened the window and hit the screen to shoo

away the bird. The bird did so, and Jonah became very sad once more. The egg that had hatched

in his backyard was now a local parakeet that stayed around Jonah’s house. The night of his 7th

birthday was the first time he had laid eyes upon it since it hatched the day his mother died. He

didn’t want to see it; because it only reminded him of what his mother never got to see, and

never would see. The day after his 8th birthday, another sad event took place. His Grandma Ava

had passed away from a stroke. It was the second huge death in the family in just a span of a

month. He went to the funeral a week later and said his final goodbyes to his grandmother. Just

down the street from the funeral home, a litter of puppies was being born. Jonah and his father

watched the mother Golden Retriever panting as she brought the pups into the world, marvelling

at the sight of birth. Jonah’s father saw how awestruck his son was, and he told the owner of the

Golden that in a month he will come back to pay for one of the pups.

A month passed, and Jonah’s father kept his word, buying the young female pup, food for

it, and a collar and leash. Jonah was very excited to raise the dog and have a new friend to play

with. He played fetch in his room with the dog all day, and finally came up with a name for it,

“buddy.” Jonah and Buddy would play just about everyday. When he got home from school, he

would run around with Buddy in the backyard, playing fetch and tug of war. At night Buddy

would sleep at the foot of his bed until morning when he had to be let out to go to the bathroom.

A few times Buddy chewed up his shoes and peed in his room, but it didn’t bother Jonah much,
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as he would just laugh and clean up the mess. Occasionally, Jonah, his father, and Buddy would

go to the beach and spend hours just playing with the dog, as she grew older and older.

When Jonah was 19 he went off to study veterinary science at the University of Sydney.

He was doing pretty well in school, with straight A’s since his freshman year. It was in class one

day that a cute girl sat next to him, and they introduced themselves. Her name was Alice, and she

was also studying veterinary science. The next few weeks they continued to sit next to each other

in class, laughing about old stories of getting drunk and making fools of themselves. Jonah and

Alice eventually got each other's cell phone numbers and started to date. After around three

months of going on dates to bars and to the beach where they would lie and look up into the sky,

the two were in love.

“Why don’t you come home with me during Christmas break?” Jonah asked.

“To your house in Queensland?” Alice asked.

“Yeah, you could meet my dad and my dog Buddy” he said.

Alice thought about it for a moment and then looked up at Jonah and smiled.

“Sure, let’s do it.”

Alice called her family and told them she would not be home for Christmas and that she

was visiting her boyfriend’s family. She was slightly upset, but she was happy because she was

excited to see where he grew up. They took a series of several trains from the university to the

last station where Jonah’s father picked the two up. Alice and Jonah’s father greeted each other,

and he began asking questions about where she grew up, her school, and her family. They finally

drove up the dirt path and parked the car. They went inside and were greeted very happily by an

old Buddy. Alice brought Buddy a bone to chew on and set her suitcase in Jonah’s room. Later
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that night, Alice and Jonah woke up to the sound of chirping from the window. Jonah got out

from under the covers and lifted up the blinds to see the green parakeet once again on the

window. He became very anxious at the sight of the bird, and Alice picked up on it.

“What’s wrong?” Alice asks him.

“It’s that damn bird, I can’t stand it!” Jonah said angrily.

“It’s just a bird babe” Alice said.

After Jonah calmed down, he eventually told Alice the story of his mother and how they

had waited eagerly for the egg of the parakeet to hatch but his mother had died before she could

see it. He felt very trusting of Alice, as he had not even told his father about that story. The two

eventually fell back asleep, but awoke a few hours later to the sound of Buddy whimpering. They

came to find Buddy, who was in the living room in a pool of blood. Jonah called his dad for help,

and the three watched and calmed down the dog as she died. The dog let out a last breath, and the

three all started to cry. They dug a hole in the ground and buried the dog in the backyard right by

the tree Jonah and his mother visited so often. In that same tree as they filled the hole with dirt,

Jonah heard the chirping of the parakeet, who he knew was now an omen of death.

The next week Jonah asked his father if they could cut down that tree, but his father

refused, saying his mother loved that tree. A month later, Jonah and Alice were about to return to

school when Alice walked out to the tree in the backyard. She stayed there for awhile just

looking at it. Jonah approached her and before even asking her if there was anything wrong--

“I’m pregnant.” Alice said.

Jonah shocked by the words at first didn’t believe it. But then he looked at her, into her

eyes, and smiled. The two had a long embrace before Jonah said,
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“Well at least we only have a semester left of college,” he laughs.

They tell his father, who seemed just as shocked by the news. He then hugged them both

and said he is very excited for the two of them. They said their goodbyes and returned to college.

After the semester of college, Alice and Jonah graduated and began working for a

veterinarian office in Queensland, where the two also bought their own home and married. One

day, while Alice was at work and Jonah was at his father's home, Jonah sat in his old room where

he felt very nostalgic. He went under his bed to find his superhero comic books and flipped

through the pages smiling, and that’s when he heard the chirping. His heart sank, and sure

enough he ran over to the window where he saw the green parakeet, fluttering its wings to come

inside. Right then, he got a call from his wife who sounded in a lot of pain. She was going into

labor. He rushed straight out to the car and drove a half an hour to her work to pick her up and

take her to the hospital. His heart was racing. As she was giving birth to their daughter, all Jonah

could think about was the damn parakeet, terrified for his daughter’s and wife’s life. But as his

daughter came out, all the worry had left his body, and he stared at the most beautiful thing he

had ever seen in his life. The world around him stayed still. Alice and Jonah could not stop

looking at their daughter, and eventually they went back to Jonah’s father’s house to show him

the baby. But Jonah’s father had passed away the same night from a heart attack.

A month after Jonah’s father’s funeral Jonah arrived back at his old home to collect all

his belongings. He went out to the old tree and looked up to see two parakeets now, circling the

it. He stared at the parakeets, and a smile began to form on his mouth.

“Hi Mom and Dad” he said to the parakeets.