Bird Market by Zary Fekete
The bird market stretched out before the young man. Cheerful colors flashed as the birds flicked their wings against the cages and twittered to one another.
The young man stopped at a small cage, looking between the small slats.
“How much for this one?” he said.
The bird-minder scratched his head in a distracted fashion.
“That one? Five coins.”
The young man caught a new sight. It was a black crow. It was perched on a single angle of wood protruding from a solid frame. The crow eyed the young man with an air of contentment and made no movement.
“Excuse me,” the young man said to the attendant. “This one has no cage?”
The attendant came over, nodding his head. “That’s right. He spent the first years of his life in confinement. Born into it really. Not that that made him docile. That took time. He battered himself against the walls enough times that he finally tired himself out. Now he sits all day.”
The young man shook his head in amazement. “How much is he?”
“Fifty coins.”
“So much more than the others?”
“Of course. He has learned a lesson. That’s value here.”
The young man’s smile slowly spread across his broad face. He pictured the bird at once, seated on its perch in the girl’s bedroom with her chirping to the animal in joy.
“I’ll keep her,” he said, meaning both things at once.
Zary Fekete… …grew up in Hungary …has a novelette (In the Beginning) out from ELJ Publications and a debut novella being published in early 2024 with DarkWinter Lit Press. …enjoys books, podcasts, and many many many films.
Twitter @ZaryFekete
Instagram @ZaryFekete
Photo by Aadil Ace on Unsplash
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