The Lone Escapee

It got loose.
Happens to everyone eventually,
if the work there long enough.
But.
It. Got. Loose.
What was it?
A Green Parakeet.

For you see, I was doing my regular shift at Starsmet, and I noticed in the back room that there was a cage of Green Parakeets that could go out onto the floor as the blue and green parakeets had been separated into different cages and there were only three greens out on the floor at the time.

It didn't seem that difficult....
Okay, so I had to catch the birds and tolerate their pinching long enough to transfer them from one cage to another, but I'd done it before, so no big deal.
Well...
One of the birds freed itself from my grip and flew behind the transfer cage and into one of the shelf things in the enclosure.
It's a super tiny space, really with only room to open up the bird cages so they can be fed and watered and if the bird gets out...it's only in that small space and easily caught and transferred back to the cage it escaped from, and not the rest of the store.
Well...it's rather hard to catch a parakeet when it's under something and the metal cage it came in, was in the way.
So. I tried to get the cage out of the way.
By opening up the door and setting it outside and closing the door so I could grab the parakeet.
...If the bird hadn't moved...it should have worked.
In hindsight...I probably could have scooted the cage over or something so that I could contort myself to get the bird....or something.
But yah.
It escaped.
Out into the store.
Flying up to the rafters and disappearing somewhere up there.
I didn't see it for the rest of my shift.
Somehow it got caught, as there were 9 birds there when I went in the next time.
Cinres mentioned putting down birdseed or something...
I have no idea how it's caught.
LaKai mentioned that they once used a shopping cart to catch a different escaped parakeet -before I started working at Starsmet.

Still...I'm glad that the bird is back safe and sound where it belongs.
And I know....under no circumstances to open that door when there's a bird loose. :)

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Dream

Kikay and I were in a classroom, when a young gunman with black hair, around our own age came into the room brandishing his weapon. I think he might have shot one girl and she collapsed to the ground. Then he rounded up the rest of us. I looked towards the doorway hoping to leave, but he notice the look and had Kikay and I step forward to be his hostages. However, Kikay moved right on by him and disappeared out the door. The others followed her and I did as well because the gunman didn't have power over us anymore, however....I hesitated...and turned back. The poor gunman was going to be by himself, and since he wasn't a threat anymore, I wanted to help. So against my better judgement I stayed with him and told him I was going to help him get to where he needed to be. My family was going the same direction and I could meet up with them later after I drove him to wherever he was going. He took me to this big old grey black suburban -It reminded me a bit of the one my neighbors used to have when I was growing up. I got into the big car, managing to find everything and adjust my seat. The car started with no problem, but as I talked with the gunman, I realized I was getting tired, and that was because I was alternating between hitting the gas and the brake, kinda like I was peddling the car along the highway. I also realized that the music we'd been listening to had disappeared and all these different types of cars, horses with carriages, and small construction vehicles were passing us by. I pulled over to the side of the road, and realized that the battery had died. The gunman confirmed this by saying it was an old car. But when I turned off the car and then turned it back on again, it started like normal and we were able to continue driving, still with me doing the peddling thing...which I recognized wasn't right, but it was the only thing that seemed to keep the car working, and I noticed that whenever we had to go up a hill, that was when the car would die and I would have to keep it moving via peddling power until I could stop and turn the engine on and off again. At some point...I realized something happened with my family, I had been trying to text them while driving, but that wasn't working as the car required alot of attention -I also remember trying to read a book and drive at the same time, I knew that was dangerous so I stopped doing that. Anyway, we pulled off an exit with the intention to turn around and go back, but we ended up at some restaurant sort of place, which turned into a classroom, and the set up of the classroom reminded me of the portables they use for classrooms at school, and inside the dark room, was a...presentation of sorts going on. The teacher was going around the room leading a discussion, while a cameraman and crew went through the crowd getting camera angles and view points as the class participated and gave their own thoughts. At one point Kikay -I was sitting next to her- got up to say her piece and gave a spiritual discourse involving a rock...where the top of it flashed a bright neon green, but when I looked at the egg shaped rock, it was a...lime colored thing speckled with black dots. She said that her dad had given this to her one day when they were having a spiritual conversation, and that it helped her alot. I don't remember exactly what she said, but as she presented the egg to the camera to see and talk to the teacher, you could tell that she really believed what she was talking about. When she was done, the teacher thanked her for the insight. Kikay nodded and then went to the back table which was full of different desserts. The teacher said that she could take the edge piece of a big white cake that had swirls done in the frosting, looking magnificent, and stated that none of the other students had wanted to eat that part as they didn't want to ruin the masterpiece. I joined Kikay as she cut a section from that part of the cake revealing dark chocolate cake on the inside. I too took a piece and scoped out the other goodies people had brought. Oatmeal chocolate cookies, frosted sugar cookies -for a moment I thought one of them had the initals S.N.D on them and wondered if the gunman had made these, but then I realized the letters spelled out a different three letter word...maybe DADorMOM but I can't remember. I took a sugar cookie anyway, and a couple other desers, but noticed alot of them remained untouched as many people didn't want to ruin the displays. There were also two diarama scenes of snowmen made from marshmellows doing different things. I remember one was in a long line in a mountain area and I wanted to take one, but I didn't want to ruin the picture so I didn't....

Then the unholy tones of daylight pulled me away....
and I became myself again. :)

-S.N.D