A sparrow will cock its head and stare at you with thoughtful eyes as you go on about the stove repair guy with his iPad, high billing rate, firm ass and attitude. Or the City’s new plan to reroute the garbage trucks so they thunder under your bedroom window at three A.M., or the high price of toilet paper. A sparrow will take it all in, hop to a lower branch, lift a wing to pick at its underside while considering your words. Nearby, spring erupts with tulips grinning and daffodils cavorting and trees scattering soft green florets that carpet the park’s walkways. A sparrow will ignore this splendor and keep its attention on you, as you tell it about the hazel-eyed young man you once sat beside in a cafe on a day just like this one, the feel of his hand on your waist, his scent of new earth and lemongrass. A sparrow might stop picking to look at you. He’ll cock his head again, to catch every nuance of your story. He’ll watch you fumble with the zipper on your jacket and then fish for the last crumbs from the crackers you just finished. You hold out your hand with an open palm and tell the sparrow that the hazel-eyed man was thirty years ago. Another lifetime. A sparrow will stare at you like it understands and then flutter towards you, hovering above your hand until it whisks some crumbs away, stunning you into the present, and a wonderment at how the tiny beak eagerly nibbled the crackers, tickling your palm, before flying off. So amazing you say to no one in particular, because you can still feel the sparrow’s beak on your skin, its life touching yours, and you carry this feeling with you all the way back home amid a chorus of singing birds.
Andrea Marcusa’s writings have appeared in The Gettysburg Review, River Styx, River Teeth, New Flash Fiction Review, The Citron Review, and others. She’s received recognition in a range of competitions, including SmokeLong Quarterly, Cleaver, Raleigh Review, New Letters, and The Southampton Review. She’s a member of the faculty at The Writers Studio. For more information, visit: andreamarcusa.com or see her on X: @d_marcusa.