By Laruren P. Fletterich

Lauren Patricia Fletterich is a science fiction and fantasy artist, keyboardist and writer. Her favorite subjects to draw are animals. As a friend to all feathered creatures, she is also an avid bird watcher and nature photographer. She has had many pets throughout her life so far and now has a parrot companion of her own. Lauren grew up in the suburb of Aurora, Ohio and now resides in Euclid, Ohio with her family. She currently works as a security officer but will soon begin training to be a wildlife protection officer. She would like to share her knowledge with as many people as possible and to raise awareness for future generations.

I work at a store with animals. My specialty is birds but I care deeply about all life from our animals. I believe they have souls and that they can and do communicate with us, just not in language. We just have to give them a chance to talk to us and give ourselves a chance to listen. I was working in the store last week one evening and it was pretty busy. A young girl asked me if I was aware that there was a bird in a box over at our animal habitat. I wasn’t aware of this; however it did not surprise me. People like to ditch animals in the store. It happens. I went over there to the box and peeked inside to see a baby robin. It was alive and just sitting there. I took her to the back room and fed her some baby bird formula. She ate but not a lot. I was told then to use baby kitten food, water it down to the consistency of oatmeal and spoon feed her. I bought a bag of kitten chow and fed her. I took her home (store policy states we are not to take in any animals under any circumstance, period) and made her up a habitat. She was very tired and I tried to feed her but she just wanted to sleep. I put her and her little abode on the coffee table and left the bay window shade open so she would see dawn and the sunrise. That would never come to pass, because the next morning she was dead. She must have died in her sleep. I sadly buried her out in the back yard, a place I had hoped to see her foraging for worms one day... A few days have passed and I have since moved on with life. Until Friday morning I was caring for my fids when I heard a strange noise in the kitchen. I went in to see what was going on and couldn’t believe my eyes. There, on the kitchen floor, sat the cutest little baby Robin. She was just sitting there. I wasn’t sure what to think. How did she ever get into my house? She seemed like such a defenseless baby that could barely walk much less fly. I approached her slowly not wanting to startle her. She showed no fear as I picked her up and held her close to my chest assuring her it was going to be okay. I took her outside and held her close to my heart and kissed her on her little head and slowly loosened my grip and she then flew off into the horizon chirping as I lost sight of her. I have no idea how she got into my kitchen that day, but I do know this. I’ll never forget her.

By Melissa Ardenyi

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