H is for Help and Hindrance

Saturday, my husband stood at the back door and called for me. Naturally, I ran at the sound of the Master’s voice. Okay, stop laughing. I did go, though, because he never does that.

He had found a robin in the garden, entangled in a string he had stretched along the ground to aid in planting a straight row. Charlie had stretched the string, I mean, not the robin. The robin had…. Charlie had stretched the string, and the robin had become entangled in it.

Joetobomb

I ran and got the embroidery scissors — and, of course, my camera. After Joe had photobombed us, I got a picture of the poor robin’s leg, all wrapped around with the string. I can only assume the robin was hunting worms in the garden and maybe got his claw hooked in the string on the ground, panicked, and flapped around until he’d snapped the string and wound himself up. He’s lucky none of the local cats found him before Charlie did.

Charlie held the robin, who didn’t peep or struggle or roll his eyes or twitch or pant or anything. The bird — a full-grown male robin — just held still while I carefully snipped and unwrapped until he was free. I’ve never seen a wild bird so calm in human hands. Charlie put him down on the porch, and he flew away into the woods. The robin did, I mean, not Charlie. This isn’t magic realism, here, this is FACT. I hope the bird was all right, but we’ll never know.

It has been called to my attention that some people believe I take a writing prompt and construct my post from it. That would be rather impressive. Actually, I write the post and then extract a writing prompt from it. So, from now on, my WRITING PROMPT will be called:

WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character rescues a bird. It can be a hummingbird, an eagle, a Roc, a Griffin or whatever.

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “H is for Help and Hindrance

  1. Holly Jahangiri

    April 9, 2012 at 9:25am

    In another case of truth being (somewhat) stranger than fiction, there’s Riley the Rollerblade Bird. You never read this, Marian?

    http://thenextgoal.com/2011/12/riley-the-rollerblade-bird/

    I’m not sure I could make this stuff up.

    As for your comment on Twitter this morning, the funny thing about that story I posted, yesterday, “Maru the Go-Go Doll,” I did not once think of the cat while writing it. Not once. I vaguely wondered why the name came to me at all – it seemed…odd. But that’s what the character dictated. She also insisted on sushi. And she WAS pretty catty.

    Dear Lord. Used to be, the imaginary people in my head dictated the stories. Please tell me I’m not channeling psychic scifi from a Japanese meme-cat!!

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 9, 2012 at 9:47am

      I hadn’t read that! Thank you so much for posting the link. 🙂

      Funny that Maru the meme-cat is trying to broaden her portfolio by sneaking into fiction. Typical cat!

      MA

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  2. Holly Jahangiri

    April 9, 2012 at 9:52am

    Thank you so much for LETTING me post the link! (Some fellow bloggers just have no tolerance for such silliness. That you do is one of the things – one of MANY things, mind you – that I love about you!)

    Riley was a hoot. I can say that now, given that he survived our fumbling attempts to save his puny little translucent bird-life. Sweet bird.

    You think Maru’s a hoot, but I’m still grossly disturbed by the prospect!

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 9, 2012 at 10:37am

      And thank YOU for thanking ME by leaving a link to MY story at Race to the Hugo Award, when YOU have a great one up today. 🙂 We just love us to pieces, don’t we?

      MA

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      • Holly Jahangiri

        April 9, 2012 at 11:52am

        Hey, if we don’t, who will? 🙂

        I think I’m a day ahead of myself on this A to Z thingy. Oh well. Better that than a week behind, as usual!

        Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  3. Mark

    April 9, 2012 at 10:03am

    That sounds like a wonderful prompt. So, was there really a bird? Don’t answer that.

    I say … whatever sparks inspiration, right?

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 9, 2012 at 10:36am

      I WILL answer, I WILL, IWILL! Yes, there really was a bird. I write the posts, then extrapolate a prompt from it for others to use.

      But I agree — Whatever sparks inspiration. 🙂

      MA

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  4. Edwina

    April 13, 2012 at 2:54pm

    Hey! I realize this is sort of off-topic but I needed to ask. Does managing a well-established blog like yours take a massive amount work? I’m completely new to operating a blog but I do write in my diary daily. I’d like to start a blog so I can easily share my own experience and thoughts online. Please let me know if you have any kind of ideas or tips for new aspiring blog owners. Thankyou!

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 13, 2012 at 9:21pm

      The single most helpful thing you can do is visit Blog Book Tours for a quick rundown on what makes a good blog. You can also join the BBTCafe (link on the Blog Book Tours site). Maybe I’ll do a post on setting up a blog and getting it going. Thanks for the idea!

      MA

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply

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