1. I love the bird

I love the bird

Yodhack usually cleans her yard every late afternoon. While she was cleaning, she sang love songs in her heart.
There was a small bird singing and jumping from branch to branch on the tree above her. She looked at the bird with pity and love.
After cleaning, she sat down on a bench to observe the bird. She sang her song with the jumping bird. It seemed that the bird and she understood each other. It pointed her beck to her and sang, “Chip! Chip! Chip!”
The sun was nearly down, when she heard a voice which prompted the bird to jump to higher branches. As she looked, Bountoum appeared from the bush. She walked to the kitchen to turn to the rice cooker on. Bountoum asked, ” Why are you so sad? ”
“ I was day-dreaming when you showed up without a noise.”
“ Excuse me for frightening you. I just want to shoot the bird”
“ Watch your words. That is just a small bird. You really want to kill it? The bird does not want to be killed.”
She walked back to the bench and continued to admire the performance of the birds. This time it flew even higher. Yodhack looked at Bountoum with an angry face. The sunlight was gone but she was still sitting on the bench and dreaming, even though her boyfriend Bountoum has already returned home. She was still looking at the bird, which had disappeared. She was alone in the dark and her dream ended when her mother called,” Yodhack! What are you doing? Why didn’t you invite Bountoum in?”
She stood up and went inside her house. Her mother looked at her and said;” Has Bountoum already gone home?”
“ He went home a long time ago.”
“ Why are you sitting by yourself?”
“ I can dream freely when I sit by myself”
“ Why didn’t you invite him in?”
“ I hate his sling shooting of the bird”
“ Why does he want to kill the birds?”
“ I don’t know either. The bird has a life. I think he should change his attitude.”
Her mother was quiet, but deep in her heart, Yodhack thought it was strange to see this close and enduring relationship between her and the bird. She smiled to herself and kept dreaming about the birds jumping and singing on the branches.
Bountoum did not worry about Yodhack’s feelings. When he arrived home, he went in and looked at the gallery of trophies inside the house and on the concrete roof. These are remains of wild animals that got hunted down. He was pleased with his trophies, wanted to get more of them, and did not worry about Yodhack.
The following day, Yodhack was sitting at her usual bench. After sunset, she did the yard cleaning and then heard the “Chip! Chip! Chip!” noise. She also said,” Chip! Chip! Chip!”
“ Oh, my dear bird! Don’t be afraid of me. I will protect you”, she said as if the bird could listen and understand her, but the bird continued with “Chip! Chip! Chip!” A moment later, a pickup truck stopped in front of her house and the bird flew higher. Bountoum opened the door, stepped out and asked:
“ Could you please come to prepare some food for us?”
“ What are you going to cook?”
“ I shot a deer and wanted to prepare a  deer tartare (lap)  so you will get to know my beloved brother”
“ Do you know that I do not eat wild animal meat, and I don’t know how to  cook. If only you were talking about ducks or chickens, that would have been OK.”
“ Anyway, whether you can or cannot, it doesn’t matter. Why don’t you just show up in my honor”.
She was unhappy that evening to have to comply with the tradition She looked inside the kitchen and saw people cutting the deer meat. All was very clear in her mind. She closed her eyes and saw the deer running away in the forest. The mother deer got separated from her kids, some of whom felt into cracks, some broke their legs, and some were shot. The monkeys and other wild animals also hade to run for their lives as well.”
These visions scared her to death.
She got up, and started serving alcohol beverages to the guests one after the other to forget those scaring pictures.  But the vision of the hunted wild animals lingered in her mind.
She was sent home by eleven o’clock in the evening. She opened the door, and slipped by to her room.  Her mother’s voice coming from the back door made her feel a little better. She said,
“ It’s me, Mother. Aren’t you asleep yet?”
“ I went to bed earlier but am not quite asleep yet”
“ Mother! Bountoum and his friends killed a big deer!”
“ What did I tell you? You need to reach mutual understanding. Otherwise this could blow up into a big argument”
“ I have nothing more to tell him. Besides, we have known each other for quite some time. At this point, there is not much to add.”
That night, Yodhack had hard time sleeping.  She didn’t know whether she was right or wrong, but she was convinced that’s what she needs and desires. She was afraid things would continue like that forever.  Yodhack and Bountoum’s ideas were clearly different and have evolved a lot since the early blossoming days of their relationships. She felt their love was tarnished and, by contrast, her attachment to the small bird kept growing day by day. She felt hot and cold and somewhat disappointed by the events.
The following day, she came to sit on the bench earlier than usual. She did not clean the yard at all  –just held her cheeks and looked up through the branches of the tree. Soon after that, Bountoum arrived and said, “What are you doing? Why do you seem so lost?”
“ Bountoum ! You always enjoyed doing strange things. Even when you knew you were going to stun people, you still did it.
“ What’s the matter with you? Anything I do seems to be all wrong with you!”
“ You are the one who did the wrong thing. I didn’t blame you for any reason.
“ What did I do wrong, Yodhack?”
“ If you don’t really know, I will tell you. Going to the forest to kill wild animals without any limits, that’s something I don’t like. Is that clear to you? . Not only you didn’t stop, but also you did even worse as if you intentionally wanted to do the things that I hate. ”
“ I didn’t do anything wrong because I didn’t affect our love.”
“ You destroy other people’s feelings. You do things that other people disapprove and you still pretend you didn’t do anything wrong?”
“ This whole argument, was because of the small bird?”
“ Part of it is, because you do things that I dislike.”
“ Is that small bird worth as much as your life?”
“ Definitely!”
“ Are you telling me that our love, which lasted for so many years, is being destroyed because of this?
“ The more you said, the more is true, because you already know what you are doing.
Bountoum was very angry and threw a stone at   the branch where the small bird was jumping and singing. The bird was scared and flew away in a hurry.
Yodhack remained silent; she went upstairs and slammed the door behind her.
Bountoum jumped over the fence and walked away without looking back. He was mumbling all the way home as if he was reciting a psalm.
On the following day’s late afternoon, after the sun was down under the trees, Bountoum decided to come to apologize to his sweetheart Yodhack and seek her forgiveness and understanding. As soon as he showed up at the house gate, Yodhack opened the gate for him with a gentle smile. Bountoum thought she had already forgiven him. Both of them went to sit on the bench under the tree. Bountoum looked at her and was about to say something, but Yodhack was the first to speak up:
“ Bountoum! You don’t need to say anything; I know what you are thinking.  We have known each other for a long time now, so we understand each other’s deep feelings very well. I realize we think and act differently in some cases. . Please, do not worry about that any more! ”