PICTURED HERE IS an empty box. Well, mostly empty, save for a few bread crumbs.
This was a very happy sight for me.
A day earlier -- a particularly hot late spring afternoon in Atlanta -- I was preparing to go to bed, and took Emmy outside as I always do just before we sleep. Something got her attention and she ran over to it and pounced on it. I immediately gave her the “drop it” command, and as usual she obeyed unhesitatingly.
The object of her interest was a small bird.
Emmy, of course, cannot ordinarily catch birds. Fortunately, she had not injured this one, although there was apparently something wrong with it as it did not fly away upon my approach. It was clearly frightened and exhausted, but I was uncertain if it was injured.
I took Emmy inside and lamented the fact the creature would likely die of heat exhaustion or be killed by a cat before too long.
I couldn’t let that happen.
I found a small box and walked back outside, alone. The little sparrow was still there. I gently coaxed it into the box with a piece of paper I’d also brought, and it reluctantly hopped in, though perhaps out of fright it relieved itself on the concrete sidewalk first.
I didn’t know exactly what to do at this point. Keeping it in my air conditioned apartment would definitely help cool the little guy down, but if he was just overheated and not actually injured, I feared he would start flying around while I was asleep. By that point, it could take a great deal of time and frustration to get him outside again, if he didn’t die in the process.
The best solution I could come up with was to set the box in the shade on my porch. I then brought out a dish and filled it with very cold water, and added some ice cubes. It was so hot out, the ice was sure to melt within minutes.
Lacking birdseed, I tossed some bread crumbs in the box behind the dish and wished the bird luck. I then went to bed, knowing there was a good possibility I would have a dead bird in a box when I woke up that night to go to work. But I slept well, knowing I had done my best to give the sparrow a second chance.
When I woke up hours later, I immediately went out to my porch.
The box was empty.
There were no signs of the bird anywhere else on the porch.
I went back inside with a big smile on my face.
“We did a good thing, Emmy,” I said, patting her on the side. “We did good.”
