Song Bird

Greetings, reader. Last week, I wrote about The Juniper Tree. This week, I wrote a modern version of this fairy tale. Why should all of these stories end up with everyone in therapy?

He's secretly a brilliant singer.

As soon as they moved into their new house, Elsie started talking about where they were going to plant juniper tree. Paul smiled and suggested the backyard. "Perfect!" Elsie said. "Then, when it gets big, we can sit under it in the shade." She went out that weekend, got a tree, and planted it. It was the summer, so it wasn't the best time to plant a tree, but Elsie knew it would grow just fine. The few leaves on the other trees deepened with their oncoming decay and fell, but the juniper tree, an evergreen, kept its scant greenery even after every other tree was bare. Elise and Paul would sit inside their new house and look out at the snow and the little tree, cuddled together under a red blanket.

The seasons changed and as spring came, Elsie began to bloom with the plants. She grew rounder and full of new life just as the flowers began to blossom, and after her doctor's visits, she would go sit in their backyard, sniff the flowers, look up at their juniper tree and smile. As the months got warmer, she got larger, until finally the leaves began to decay and fall from the trees again. Then she released her new life into the world. Jonathan Ivan was born on September 1st and he was beautiful. However, the birth was harder on Elsie than anyone had anticipated. As the leaves crumbled into powder and the snow fell, Elsie's life slipped away and Paul was left alone with baby Jon. What they did not know was that Elsie was determined never to leave her family. She was going to stay and look after Jon until he could look after himself. So, although her body was no longer her home, she found a new home in the juniper tree, and there she stayed.

Jon grew and grew and was soon walking. He seemed to love the juniper tree just as Elsie had and Paul often spent afternoons in the backyard with him under the juniper tree. Elsie longed for a way to reach out and hug her baby, but she couldn't reach him. She had to pretend that when he was propped up against the tree, he was cuddling her. Soon, he was running and talking and growing and growing. It seemed like no time at all before he was a little boy and getting excellent grades in school. Paul had told Jon all about the juniper tree, so sometimes Jon would come to the backyard alone and talk to the tree. He confided his fears, talked about his problems, and trumpeted his joys. Elsie loved it all. She just wished she could do something for him, but trees move so slowly and Elsie couldn't get the energy to move the juniper tree faster.

Then, Paul and another woman began to sit in the backyard. Elsie knew she shouldn't be surprised that Paul found another woman to love, but Elsie didn't like her. There was something wrong about her and wrong about the way she looked at Jon. Like he was a bug in her house. Elsie learned the woman's name was Margaret and her daughter, just a few years younger than Jon, was named Trisha. At least Trisha was a normal, happy girl. Occasionally, she and Jon would play outside and Elsie smiled at their games. Eventually, Elsie saw the mother and daughter every day and realized Paul had married Margaret. Elsie cried inside the tree and drew into herself, shutting out the world around her.

She had no concept of how long she stayed like that. One day, however, she heard Trisha scream from inside the house. At once, Elsie was alert, but she couldn't see what had happened. She would give anything to be in that house right now, but all she could manage was to move some of her branches a little. Frustrated, Elsie waited. Jon hadn't stopped coming out to talk to the juniper tree, although now he just thought out loud while he sat underneath. Elsie would have to wait for Jon to tell her what had happened. Trisha had been scared out of her wits and Elsie would bet anything it was something serious. Elsie had to wait almost all day, but it wasn't Jon who came out of the house. It was Trisha. She was crying and from her red eyes, it looked like she had been crying for a long time. She had something wrapped up in one of her scarves. Trisha walked slowly to the juniper tree and carefully set her bundle down so the tree was between it and the house.

It was an oddly shaped bundle. Elsie tried to get a better look at it, but it was already evening, so the light wasn't good and Trisha had left the scarf around it. Sobbing, Trisha looked at the bundle. "I'm sorry, Jon," she said. "I didn't think your head would fall off, but Mom said..." She trailed off and looked at the bundle. "Mom lied," she whispered to herself. Trisha looked scared and glanced back toward the house. She shivered.

"Trisha! Come inside, dear!" Margaret's voice sounded different. Something had happened and Elsie knew Trisha's bundle was at the heart of it.

"I'm sorry," Trisha sobbed one more time at the bundle. Then she ran inside.

Now that Trisha was gone, Elsie could focus more on the bundle. Why was Trisha apologizing to Jon? Was something of his inside that scarf? Just then, a small wind blew up and opened the scarf. Inside of it were bones. Elsie could feel her sap freeze. This was Jon. Trisha had said his head fell off. Elsie had known there was something wrong with Margaret, but she hadn't been able to tell Paul and now this had happened! This was all wrong! Knowing it could take all night, Elsie set herself to bend forward to at least cradle the bones of her child to her. She didn't want him to be dead. Maybe there was something she could do about that, but she had to touch him first.

It took until dawn, but Elsie finally was able to put some of her branches on Jon's bones. As luck would have it, a red-winged blackbird landed in her branches not long after. "I'm sorry," Elsie thought at the cardinal. Then, with a twist she wasn't sure how she knew, Elsie put Jon's spirit into the bird. The bird hopped up in surprise and nearly fell out of the tree. "I'm alive?" it asked. It worked! Elsie tried to tell Jon everything, but he flew away before she could say anything. Still, she had brought him back to life and had managed to hide his bones inside her tree. She thought they might be useful later. Now empty, Trisha's scarf blew away in the morning breeze.
-
Jon had never been a bird before, but he caught on quickly how to fly. His heart was bursting with a sad song, so he landed somewhere to sing. He had liked playing with words before, but they had never arranged themselves in his mind so quickly before, even if the rhyme scheme could use some work.

"Margaret killed me and tricked my sister.
All that chopping gave her a blister.
My father ate me, all by himself.
Now here I sit, a bird on a shelf."

"Well, now, I've never seen a bird that sings words before," a man said, coming out of a shop

Jon stared at him. "You can understand me?" he asked.

"I sure can," the man replied, looking up at him. "And you've got the best voice I've ever heard."

"Really?" Jon asked.

"Sing again," the man said, pulling out his phone.

A plan began to form in Jon's mind. "I will, if you get me something to eat."

"Sure," the man said. "Not a problem."

So, Jon opened his beak and sang the same song. The man recorded the whole thing; then he went back inside the store he'd just been in. He came out with a bag of birdseed that he pulled open and spread on the ground. Cautiously, Jon flew down from the tree and began eating. It wasn't his idea of a meal, but he wasn't sure what else he could eat. Thankfully, the man stayed far away and didn't try to touch Jon. After he was done, Jon flew back into the tree.

As people came by that day, Jon sang for some of them and soon he had a crowd. Surprisingly, none of the people seemed to think what Jon sang about was real. The news vans pulled up not long after that and Jon sang for them.

"We have here what many are calling a miracle," the reporter said, looking up at the tree.

"Can't I just be magic?" Jon asked.

The reporter flinched and turned to face him. "Did...did you just speak?" she asked.

"I sure did," Jon said. "Why do I have to be a miracle? I think I'm magic."

"Oh," the reporter said weakly. Then she pulled herself together. "Why do you think you're magic?"

Jon thought. He didn't want to get Trisha in trouble. Besides, even if he tried to say Margaret killed him and take her to court, he didn't think the testimony of a bird would go that far. "Because I'm the only one like me," he settled on.

"What are your plans, Mr. Bird?"

"My name is Jon. Plans? Well, it would be great to be a famous singer." Jon said it with a bird-laugh, but that was exactly what he wanted.

"Well, if any recording studios are watching the news, you just might be," the reporter told him.

"Good," Jon said.

"So how did you come by these magic powers?" the reporter asked.

Jon pondered. He didn't remember much after he got murdered. Just an impression of his mother, and then he was a bird in a tree. That wasn't a good story. "I'm a ghost possession gone wrong," Jon told her in a confidential tone.

In later interviews, Jon would make up different stories to explain his existence. When asked why his story changed every time, Jon said it was more fun that way, but really he didn't want to tell anyone the truth. Soon after his first interview, Jon did sign with a record company. He made sure all of his royalties went into a bank account the record company couldn't touch. It was under his legal name, although his stage name was Jon Bird, and only he knew the pin for the account. Jon had the record company direct deposit all of his checks and, from time to time, he would check his balance online to make sure he was actually getting paid. He was a singer and a songwriter, but Jon knew the novelty of a singing and talking bird was going to wear away quickly. So, one night after they finished recording his latest track for his latest album, he flew out an open window.

He had gone shopping online and had a few things delivered to his old house. They were supposed to get there the next day, but Jon intended to beat them. He got there in the morning and flew into the juniper tree to wait. It seemed to welcome him back and, after his family had left for work or school, Jon told the tree what he had been up to. It seemed like the right thing to do. Once the packages arrived, Jon flew down and brought them up into the tree, one by one. He struggled with the third package, but that one was the most important to get in the tree. Jon made sure it was across a few branches so the branches didn't break.

Not too much later, Jon saw his family come trickling home. As soon as his father pulled up, Jon began singing:

"Margaret killed me and tricked my sister.
All that chopping gave her a blister.
My father ate me, all by himself.
Now here I sit, a bird on a shelf."

Cautiously, Paul poked his head out of the house. "Hello?" he asked.

Jon settled his feathers and sang his song again. Then he flew down from the tree and dropped a new Rolex into his father's startled hands.

"Trisha! Margaret! Come outside. It's just like that famous bird!" Paul yelled. He looked down at the watch. "And he gave me a watch," Paul muttered, confused.

Trisha came out of the house and Jon was surprised at how much she had grown, although he hadn't been away that long. Jon opened his beak and sang:

"Margaret killed me and tricked my sister.
All that chopping gave her a blister.
My father ate me, all by himself.
Now here I sit, a bird on a shelf."

Then he flew down and gave Trisha a pair of red shoes. Jon hoped they would fit.

"Margaret!" Paul yelled into the house. "You have to come out here and see this bird."

"I feel terrible," Margaret whined back. "My head is splitting."

"Come on out here," Paul said. "It's not every day you see this."

"Well, I suppose not," Margaret said. "Maybe the bird's song will make me feel better." She stumbled out of the house. They all looked expectantly up at Jon, but he was picking up the final package with his beak. He had ordered a heavy set of weights and Jon wasn't sure how he was able to pick them up, but he managed it. Then he flew over and dropped them square on Margaret's head.

She died instantly, which was the most that Jon owed her. Paul and Trisha stared at Margaret's body in shock. Then Jon felt himself being pulled back to the juniper tree. He was covered with its branches and then he began to change. It felt very strange, like he was having an out of body experience. Or perhaps having the experience of two bodies. When it was over, Jon was sitting on the ground in front of the juniper tree and he was in his own body again.

"Hi, Dad. Hi, Trisha," Jon said.

"Jon?!" Paul yelled. He ran over to his son. "What happened? How are you here?!" He swept his son up in a hug. Trisha was right behind him. For a moment, Jon just let them hug him.

"What happened?" Paul asked again as they separated. Then he looked over at Margaret's body. "Let's go inside," he said. "You can tell us all about it then."

As they headed in, Jon decided what he told his dad was going to be different from what he told his sister. He didn't want his dad to think he was crazy, but he was going to tell Trisha the truth. Maybe he'd say he got kidnapped somehow. That made as much sense as anything else. Still, Jon reflected, at least no one in the house wanted to kill him anymore. Life was going to be a lot easier now.