posted on Jan, 30 2014 @ 05:35 PM
I was at the publix parking lot, and I saw it there. I gotta get this out because frankly I just feel awful inside right now.
So I was pulling into the parking lot, when I see a small crowd of about three or four people gathered around a bird. I park, and walk over to get a
closer look, and there's this injured, medium sized bird. I'm not sure what type, probably a pelican, or an albatross, or something like that. And I
ask the people if the bird is okay. They say no. I look at the bird, and it's obviously in a lot of pain, I'm not sure what from, I couldn't see a
visual wound, but it was suffering.
And these people are watching it suffer, and I ask any of them if they know the number to the animal rescue service, but none of them do, and they
just walked off. So I run to the radio shack in a frantic frenzy, because I figured they would have wifi, or internet, or something to google it, and
they do, so they tell me the number, and I call it, and go back out side.
A woman picks up the phone and I tell her in what must have sounded like a crazy person's voice that there's an injured bird, and I can barely get
the location out to her because of how stressed I was, and her first question to me is if it's a parrot. She tells me she specializes in rescuing
parrots, and furthermore is far out in the boonies of my county. She tells me that the nearest rescue place is a good distance away. Then, when I
can't find the bird, she tells me she has to go.
By this time, I can't find the bird, because in the time it took me to go inside radio shack, it had gone somewhere. When an animal knows it's
dying, it wanders off to somewhere private. It's probably in some alcove now, alone, dead, because I wasn't smart enough. I could have called home,
kept an eye on the bird, and asked a family member to google the number for me. But I couldn't think of it.
I look and look and look for this bird in the publix parking lot, nearly breaking out into tears, looking like the craziest of crazy people to all the
folks in the parking lot, and I can't find it. I look for what feels like forever, and I can't find it. I couldn't find it. I had to get groceries,
and it was raining out, sky grey as it's ever been in my life. I look some more. I give up, a failure, a person who let that bird die.
I go shopping, get the groceries for the week. I go to the customer service desk nearly crying, and since I apparently got the wrong kind of apples
last time I shopped, I was tasked with returning them and getting organic apples. So this customer service and lottery ticket lady sells five lottery
tickets to this woman, she scratches them off, and none are winners. She buys some more, and repeats. Then she gets frustrated, cuts her losses,
leaves. Then the customer service/ lottery woman asks me if I'm there to buy lottery tickets. I tell her no, that I have two problems, one a lot more
serious than the other. I explain the apples situation to her first very quickly, and then tell her about the bird. She tells me that she'll tell the
manager.
I read the grocery list, buy everything on it, fried chicken included. Fried chicken was on the list. So I'm at the deli staring at the chicken and
the man at the counter did not want to look at or talk to the man staring at the chicken, nearly in tears, trying to find something, anything on the
bright side, but I just see the bitter irony in the situation, and I go to the check-out, and pay, then go out and look for the bird some more. I
can't find it and I'm just walking around in the rain in almost a fugue state, looking for this poor bird, and I couldn't find it.
I go home, and wish I could have done something.