TravelChick

Animal Life in my Kitchen

This morning I got up and stumbled to the kitchen to put water for tea on. I opened the door and was greeted by a sparrow flapping madly about and whizzing around the kitchen. I shut the door. When I opened it again the bird flew rapidly towards my head then spun around and made a dash for the glass doors leading to the balcony, crashed, then hopped around and settled on top of the refrigerator. I glanced up at it. It blinked at me sadly.

Arming myself with a pot lid to protect myself in case the sparrow decided to dive towards my head again, I ran to the doors, opened them, then closed the kitchen door and waited a few minutes to head back into the kitchen.

I cautiously opened the door. No sparrow flapping about. No bird on top of the refrigerator. Excellent. I shut the balcony door, made my tea, grabbed a banana, then started to walk out to the living room to enjoy my breakfast.

But something wasn't right. For some reason, I glanced down behind the door, and there was the sparrow, cowering defeatedly in the corner. Oh dear.

I opened the door again. The bird stayed where it was. 'Come on!' I said (in Arabic, of course). 'Go!' 'Freedom!' I yelled, as I gestured towards the door. Nothing. I tried startling it, but it wouldn't budge. So I left the balcony door open, shut the kitchen door, and started to eat my breakfast. Halfway through my tea, I heard some cheerful chirping coming from the direction of the balcony. 'Ah, success', I thought.

I ran to the kitchen. No sign of the sparrow. I shut the balcony door triumphantly.

Aside from wondering how to get the bird out of my kitchen when I first saw it, I wondered how it got into my apartment. We keep some of the windows open, but they all have screens. I checked this morning and none of them have holes. Maybe it flew in with me when I came home last night and spent the night crashing about in the kitchen. Maybe it had a key. It's a Damascus mystery.

posted by Travel Chick @ 2:13 PM