Along with all the noise and hustle at the construction site, Mark suddenly heard sweet whistle like sounds. He got curious and started searching for the origin of the sounds and found out that there was a bird’s nest at his, being constructed house. To be precise, the nest was at the far right corner of the place which was planned to be the drawing room, on top of a wooden pole. The pole was too high for him to be able to look into the nest so he fetched a stool to gaze upon those nestlings. There were two of them and also an unhatched egg. At first he couldn’t make out which bird’s nest it was but after looking at those new-borns and considering that it was the winter season, he assumed that it was the nest of a pair of sparrows. As he was thinking about all this, a thought suddenly struck his head. Where were the parent birds? He couldn’t even find the female who generally stays in the nest for incubation. “Might have gone to bring some food for these cuties”, he mumbled to himself and left them alone for the time being. When it was time to call it a day, he went to check upon the nest again but got a bit worried as the birds hadn’t returned yet. He returned to his apartment and tidied himself up first. “Isa, Cody, come here. I wanna show you something.” His two kids came running from their room. Isabell was his younger child who was about to be nine soon and Cody of age fourteen. “What is it daddy?” Cody asked and Isabell, as always asked “Did you bring something for me today dadda?” “Why do you have to be so greedy all the time Isa?” “What’s it to you? I am talking to dadda not you.” “Come on now, stop fighting and look at this”- Mark showed them the pictures he took of the nest and the nestlings. “It’s in our drawing room you know!” From the kitchen, Stacy peeked while probably washing her hands-“What are you showing them honey?” “It’s a sparrow’s nest in the drawing room of our new house.” “Then tomorrow you should take them to see it for themselves” as both the kids heard their mom say this, they started pleading Mark to take them there to which he happily agreed.
The next day Mark took his kids to see the nest. The thought of those unreturned sparrows still bothered him but he was relieved when he saw one sitting in the nest. The stool he used the previous day to look into the nest wouldn’t do for his kids so he fetched a longer one. “Why is it so quiet here today daddy? Is there no work going on today?” Cody asked Mark as he brought the stool. “There is but I told them to do it as quietly as they can for some time. We don’t wanna scare the birds now do we!” Cody nodded his head.
He gave them the stool -“Look at it from a distance ok! Don’t disturb them. I’ll be right back.” and walked away. Both the kids spent their time awing and adoring those tiny creatures. After a while, Mark gave them a call. It was time to return home now. On their way back, Cody said –“Daddy yesterday in the picture we saw only two babies but there were three in the nest.” “The egg might have hatched then.” he replied. “Dadda can I ask you something?” “Yes” “I studied that birds make their nest on trees. If that’s true then why did they make their nest here?”
This sudden question Isabell asked left Mark speechless. He had no answer to it but he had to answer her question. “I don’t know dear. Maybe they liked it in there,” that’s all he could come up with. He dropped the kids back home and set off to nowhere. He felt miserable. But the question is, was it the question that made him feel that way? Or was it the real answer to the question?
At first, when he found the nest, it seemed like a house habituating a home and the sweet whistles of happiness and new life. Now, it seems like a house built with the help of the remains of a dead remains of a home and the sweet whistles sound like the weeps of death.
Mufaddal Saba
Guidelines for the competition : https://www.fanatixxpublication.com/write-o-mania-2023
