Beyond the Nest

Once upon a rainforest, not so long ago, lived a small Scarlet Macaw named Darryl (that’s me). I was quite playful and my friends loved to call me Dary. The flock I lived with was not so big and not so small; I enjoyed knowing everyone and everyone knowing me! My parents would come and go while the young ones played in the center of my village.

One day, I noticed a lot of my friends were not coming to play with me like they usually did. “Mom, where did all my friends go,” I asked with sadness in my voice. She got a sad look on her colorful face and replied, “They had to move since the rainforest keeps disappearing.” I was very confused; where would the rainforest go? Didn’t it know we needed it to live and find places for our homes?

I decided the next day to find out where the rainforest was wandering off to. I went in search of the wise old elder Macaw. His feathers were frayed and held just hints of the brilliant red, green, blue, and yellow he once had. When the elder came to the front of his nest hole, I bowed my head and asked, “Oh wise Elder; can you help me find out where the rainforest is going to hide?”

The Elder chuckled and waved me into his well kept and worn nest. As I found a place to perch that looked strong enough to hold my weight, the wise old Elder began his story. “Long ago we were told stories of a day when our homes would leave and be homes for other animals. One such animal would be greedy and not know when to stop and as such our homes, and our lives, would be in great danger. There is a legend of a safe place tucked deep in the jungles that can only be accessed through a series of special nuts gathered and placed in just the right tree basin. No one has ever really paid any attention to it because, well, we never had times like these until now.”

The Elder continued, “If you are going to go on this quest, you must pick trusted friends to go with you. I can give you the old scroll with the legend and map along with a bag to carry those items and the special nuts. Do you want to give it a try?” I thought long and hard for a few moments. “I really have nothing to lose. We need a safe place to live and no one else is interested in doing anything except moving away. I agree to go on this journey, wise Elder.” The Elder wheezed in excitement and began gathering the things around his old home for me to take. Once he was finished, he urged me to gather my friends and begin right away.

When I left his house I was shaking with excitement. I couldn’t wait to ask Sandy the mouse and Twitch the squirrel to join me. I decided to head over to Twitch first since we lived in the same tree. I flew as quickly as my wings could carry. I landed in a huff outside and managed to puff out his name, “Twitch! Twitch get your fluffy tail out here! Whew,” I heaved in great big breaths. As I was catching my breath, I heard random bumps and mumbling from inside. After a long while, Twitch sleepily opened his door with one eye open and proceeded to yawn widely.

“Why were you banging on my door before I had my morning juice?” Twitch loved his coffee more than a teenager should but without it he was intolerable. I shoved him back through the door and towards his kitchen so he could start making it while I told him my story. He blearily held his cup as I went through the whole tale and only near the end when I mentioned us going on a quest did some life come into his bright black eyes. “So when do we start!” He exclaimed. I giggled and said, “We can go tell Sandy and then plan to leave first thing in the morning. Today we should spend time gathering all our supplies.” His eyes gleamed as he downed the rest of his coffee and scrambled to get ready. Once he had cleaned up, we scampered off to Sandy’s house.

Sandy’s house was built into one of the largest trees in the rainforest. It was grand, majestic, and the other animals had a mutual respect for it since it had lived for so long. She has burrowed a small alcove near the western side so she could be near the river. Once we landed in front of the simple wood door, Twitch gave a quick rap. Sandy must have heard us coming because it seemed like the door swung open immediately! “What do you two trouble makers want,” Sandy asked. Twitch and I could barely contain our excitement so she stepped aside and led us into her living room area. As I recounted the story again to Sandy, her eyes kept growing larger by the second. Finally she whistled and said, “We haven’t a moment to lose!”

After many hours of shopping and packing, we were finally nestled in our sleeping bags at my house. We tried to eat a light dinner, but we were so excited we just didn’t seem to have any appetite. We wrapped up whatever was left to take with us and now were concentrating on how to fall asleep quickly. My mother must have heard us tossing restlessly because the next thing we knew, she had begun singing one of my favorite childhood lullabies. Slowly we felt our hearts calm down and our eyes grew heavy. Before we knew it we were all sleeping peacefully awaiting the early morning.

When I woke up my friends, the suns rays were just starting to color the tops of the jungle trees. It was a peaceful sight and my heart was about to bursting! We began with the hardest part of the journey first; the black river. According to the map, we needed to walk for 4 miles along the West Bank until we came upon the old wood bridge. As we neared the bridge we spotted the small overgrown path we were to follow down into the gorge. Once at the bottom, the map stated we had to wait for the night sky to light the way to a small crevice in the rock face that held the first magical nut. Once we spotted the faint glow from a small cleft in the rock face, we slowly crept upon the spectacular sight. Twitch gently took the nut in his shaking paws and placed it reverently in our knapsack.

The next stop in our journey was an abandoned mine on the far side of the territory. This one made us a little more nervous because we were so close to the humans. We decided to be very careful and travel slowly. As we searched in the empty coal carts in the front of the mine opening, Sandy spotted one that had a wider base than all the others. She began to knock along the bottom of the cart and suddenly a small board swung open! Inside we could see the gleam of the second magical nut. We danced a small, quiet jig and then quickly headed towards the jungle and much needed safety.

Our last stop was in the very middle of the jungle, the very active volcano called “Sparkle top”. Most children are taught very young to not fly over due to high reaching magma spews and scorching temperatures. As we approached the middle of the huge rock face, we pondered how we were going to find this last piece to our important puzzle. While resting from our long past couple of days, we felt the familiar rumble beneath us. We all made sure to be out of the path of any flowing lava, and watched the show. A particularly high magma flare spewed a chunk of rock right at our feet! On a hunch, Twitch began striking at it with his walking stick. It suddenly broke open revealing our last magic nut! We all cheered and hugged each other.

There was a hero's welcome as we walked to the center of our little village. All of our parents were there, along with the Elder, and whomever else could make it. The three of us approached the gazebo in the center of our village. We set the magical nuts in a small tree basin for everyone to be able to come and glance at the glowing beauty of our magical find. Much to our amazement, the nuts began to crackle and sizzle. Suddenly, a fiery door appeared and we all gasped when it landed with a thud on the gazebo floor. The Elder carefully walked up to it, turned the shiny knob and slowly peeked inside. He let out a loud shout, “We’re home!” He threw open the door and there behind him was the most lush, expansive rainforest we had ever seen. We all rejoiced and began making preparations to move into our new, safe home.