Penguin wiki

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Tea with The Birds

Tea With the Birds

A (Sur)real Story

The sun was shining over the Tagus, making Lisbon look like it was more gracefully-bluer and yellower than ever. The city was awaking and another bright, but somewhat, tough day was peeking through the corners of Time.
Cipriano was sitting at the café, writing. He was a tall, slim man in his thirties. Before another hard, uncertain day of work, perhaps within an uncertain job, he would always sit at the second table of the most classy coffee shop downtown. Then, day after day, month after month, he would ask for the same type of tea. "Tea for two, please."
This man was, in fact, two people.
He used to call the other self "The Key Holder", for he felt stuck in his own mind, lacking freedom, and only a key would set him free. This was all of Cipriano's imagination immersing into his own daily life.
He would drink his tea and then wait for The Key Holder to finish his, which never happened. A filled up cup of tea would be left on the table, every single day.
One day, however, something happened.
While going through his daily routine at the coffee shop, he saw an old man feeding some birds. These birds had several colors and several shapes, and every single bird sang a different, sweet melody, a true ode to freedom and diversity.
"Excuse me, kind man, can't you see you are disturbing these streets by luring those birds down here?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but I disagree. It depends on the point of view. What is more natural; a human being feeding some beautiful birds or a clean, gray, concrete street?"
"Those birds... they are useless...useless, I say!"
The old man sat in the same table as Cipriano and started drinking from The Key Holder's cup.
"Don't!" - said Cipriano.
"Why not? After all, this is my cup of tea. I've been watching you year after year and, upon my word, you have disappointed me throughout Time..."
"That can't be. You are the reason why I am what I am. There's always something pulling me backwards. My personal choices, my job, my daily life... You are The Key Holder."
"I am no reason of whatever you say. Come. Come with me, let's have a taste of some nature; let's feed the birds!"
The Key Holder grabbed Cipriano's hand and the two started flying over the city side by side with the birds. He was experiencing things that he never thought he would. They saw the river, the sea, the tiny people down there, living their ordinary lives. He has truly overcome himself.
"Are you still afraid?!" - Yelled The Key Holder.
"No... This is incredible. There's nothing here to be afraid of. How did you..." - Suddenly, the old man disappeared amidst a white cloud of smoke.
******
In that sunny morning, whoever would pass by the coffee shop could see Cipriano sleeping while his tea got colder on the table. The waiter decides to wake him up.
"Oh..." - he placed his fingers upon his eyelids- "It seems that I fell asleep... This new job tires me so much..."
"Sir, I'm afraid you dropped something in the tea cup."
Cipriano just smiled when he saw a beautiful golden key inside an empty cup of tea. He got out of the coffee shop and started feeding the birds, while whistling a beautiful melody, a true ode to Freedom.

Tea with the Birds

Tea with the Birds


Once upon a time there was a bird
Don't know exactly what kind
Who wasn't very smart
And just wasted his time
He used to look for crumbs
Under the tables in the gardens
Until a pigeon appeared and said
"Hey bird that's garbage!"
The bird was intrigued but too lazy to care
But he was hungry and well that's too much to bear
So the pigeon insisted
"Hey thats trash I know this amazing place
it has all the food you can imagine
and tea that which humans say its magic!"
After all the nagging the bird caved in
The pigeon flew and the bird followed him
Bu wonder why did the pigeon chose him
The finally arrived and the bird was beat
But as soon as he opened his eyes
There was the feast the pigeon had promised
Magnificent food spread on a table
Inside the kitchen of a small cottage
The bird couldn't believe
It was breathtaking
An all you can eat buffet
All for the taking
But still the bird was somewhat suspicious
So the pigeon tried to calm him
"Hey drink this tea you will feel much better
It will even help you eat much faster"
The bird filled with hunger and also some greed
Plunged right into the pot and filled his beak
Soon he felt sleepy, somewhat dazed
Soon he blacked out
Later he woke up inside a cage
Turns out the bird was of a rare kind
Extremely rare very hard to find
Turns out the pigeon was sent as a lure
By his owner just to get some more seeds for sure
So this story ends and no theres no moral inside
Just some friendly words and cautious advice
Don't run off with strangers
Don't pay attention to greed
For in danger you will get
And the cost may be dear

Tea with Birds

Tired of the fuss in the big city I moved to the country side, to a village called Smallville. There aren’t any big buildings, and the houses are all made out of wood. The church with her huge bell is the tallest place in the village. Every afternoon, after work, I like to go to an esplanade in Saint James Park, to savour a cup of tea, to read and to enjoy the fresh air. I love the quietness, the singing of the birds and the races between the ducks in the lake. Children and their grandparents come here to play and to walk by the lake.
It’s a great sensation to be in a place like this. It’s a feeling of peace that runs through you, a feeling of serenity. This contact with nature is a great healer after a day’s work. All the stress and tiring seems to disappear.
In the big city I didn’t have any time for this. I was always running, either to catch the subway or the bus. I had to keep track on time at every moment. It was becoming too stressed In Smallville I found inner peace, found the possibility to enjoy life at a different pace. In a way, I have learned to reconfigure the rhythm of my life, and to enjoy time after work. The park with the birds and the lake with the ducks tells us exactly that life is like nature; everything has it own rhythm, its own balance, you’ve just have to discover yours.
When I talk to my friends of the big city, and explain them how my life is nowadays, they all become very jealous. It’s all about making choices. Of course in the big city you have lots of entertainment, but you don’t have to wave to the people you see across the street and the hello to the shop owners. In Smallville everybody knows each other. In the big city it’s difficult to have these kinds of relations. People are self-centred. That’s why I love Smallville. Moving here was the best choice in life that I could have made.

Tea with the Birds

It was a cold, yet pleasant autumnal evening. The morning dew had already dried by the time he returned home. It had been an exhausting day of work, just like many others, and suddenly he stumbled – his first thought was to grasp the banister before he fell. He then sat on one of the steps, and clung to old memories, as he tried to fight back the dizziness.

Inside the house, a melodic voice could be heard. "This is odd, to say the least" – he thought. He hadn’t heard the canary sing since last summer. “Seldom do these birds sing in the middle of autumn”. Turning the knob, he opened the door and his dog was the first to enter the house – “Yeah, I know, dogs first” – he whispered, smiling. As the years passed by, he grew used to the animal's antics. When the door closed behind him, he called his four-legged friend. He didn’t come, though. He started looking for him. After he entered the kitchen, there he was, staring at the singing bird. Strangely enough, the yellow creature didn't stop singing, as if he didn’t mind the dog. In fact, his voice echoed louder and louder. “Well, I guess I have no other choice. Sing away, my friend.” He bribed the dog with a cookie in order to take him back to the garden. Delightful as its voice was, he wouldn't have minded to continue listening to the bird, but when he poured some tea into a cup, he stopped; and that second felt like a glass shattering. Then the little one began chirping, perhaps trying to ask for something. “Do you want tea?” Now that was weird, after all those years taking care of his pets, he’d never thought he would one day feed one of the birds on tea. He approached the white cage carefully trying not to scare the canaries, and filled one of the water containers with tea. “There you have it.” Much to his surprise, both birds started to drink it. “That’s what you can call, having Tea with the Birds”.

Model: one of my birds.
Photo: taken and edited by me - PSP X (Yeah, kind of small, but the cage wasn't the subject so I had to remove it.)
See you soon!

David Ildefonso

Tea with the Birds

November 12th

It’s a cold Sunday morning here by the riverside, where I live since my mother’s passing away.
I’ve always loved these winter days. We can feel the fresh breeze that makes us want to grab the blanket we have in our cosy bed to keep ourselves warm, so it feels like we’d never left it.
I brushed my hair and washed my face. Then, I went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for two. For me, I put two small croissants in the oven and a kettle full with half a litre of water in the cooker.
By the time I was filling the croissants with strawberry jam, the water started to boil, the steam went by my face and Twinkles, my black cat with bright light eyes (two tiny shining stars), jumped from the fridge to the ancient kitchen table made out of Portuguese oak tree wood, and from there to the floor; it went to the balcony’s closed door and tried to open it. I smiled and said, “What a great idea Mr. Twinkles! Just because it’s cold it doesn’t mean we can’t have our royal breakfast outdoors”, I opened the door, “Go on, and take your seat. I’ll sit next to you in a minute. Let me just prepare your tuna fish.”
And so, I took Twinkles’ tuna fish, my croissants, the kettle and a dark pink mug outside and put them above our green metal table. The grass and flowers’ smell caught my attention as I walked to pick some herbs for my tea. I collected them in the palm of my hand and tried to preserve its fine aroma in my nose so it would get in my mind, and it worked! I began to feel incredibly calm while I was listening to the birds singing, as I hadn’t felt for such a long time. I was living that moment and I wasn’t alone. As the river that runs near my white house, that has fish and sea creatures in it, I had in me various feelings and thoughts that contacted peacefully with the surrounding nature.
Now I see why my mother used to call these sweet, but yet powerful, moments “Tea with the birds”.