(un)Free Bird

I ran into the pet store to get cat food yesterday. After grabbing a small bag of the Science Diet mature adult hairball formula, I was heading up the main aisle toward the registers when I heard a songbird singing. It seemed so out of place. Surely there couldn't be a songbird in here, this building with four walls and a concrete floor. Don't songbirds, or any other birds for that matter, belong in trees?

I followed the sound, as if being led by the pied piper, to a row of bird cages. And there they were. I couldn't tell which one had been singing, but it didn't matter, really, because they had succeeded in getting me where they wanted me--to be their witness. They had stopped singing once I stepped in front of the cages. It was time now to plead their case. They all stared at me anxiously, waiting to see what I'd do. Surely I could understand their plight. Oh, the injustice of being trapped in a cage! Can't I see the absurdity? Of putting a price on the ultimate symbol of freedom? Freedom doesn't cost $16.99. It's priceless, you see.

I just stood there. Eyes cast to the floor. Heart full of sadness. Visions of myself opening the cages and letting them all out running through my head that would never happen in reality. I knew it. And they knew it. Silence. Then, as if to say, "It's okay... it's not your fault" a small Waxbill sang. I whispered, "sorry" and left. My lunch hour was quickly coming to an end. I had to get back to the office.

As I was leaving the aisle I saw a woman with her child and dog in tow. I don't think she had intended to go down the aisle with the birds, but once she heard them singing in unison, she, like I, could not resist. I wondered then, as she turned down the aisle and I headed to the front, would she be the savior they are singing for?