the little sparrow

Subject : THE HAPPY SPARROW...an unbelievable tale

Posted Date: : 01 Aug 2009, 02:26 PM

The happy sparrow

This is an incredible story about something that happened to me about 17 years ago now. I just remembered it again and up until now I have kept this one all to myself…you'll see why once you have read it.

It was about 5.45 in the evening. It was winter time, so it was already getting dark. I was waiting to catch my ferry home from Circular Quay to Rose Bay.

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 I pretty much knew the timetable off by heart, and I also knew that there was a 1 hour wait in between this ferry and the last one, if I missed this one. I had gotten off my train, and I took the escalator down to the ferry terminal and ran straight onto the jetty.

I actually had 15 minutes to spare, so I sat down on a bench, and took a huge breath…actually it was a huge sigh of relief. ....

At the time I was working for a life insurance company. We were in the middle of relocating some of the departments, and I was in the computer dept, so it was up to us to make sure that the transition was smooth for all the computers and printers. We were using an unusual technology…Amplitude Modulated; this was to beam the signals from one side of the road to the other. I had never seen this before, so I was struggling. It got pretty tense after a week or so, and some people still didn't have working printers etc. So I felt like a wreck, and to sit on a jetty and just stare out into the harbor was pure bliss.

The jetty was getting busier and busier, but I was in a world of my own.

I started to notice something…

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peep peep peep. Peep peep. ....

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After a couple of minutes of this insistant

peep peeping,

I arose from my haze and looked around for the source of this chatter. Right at my feet, was a little sparrow.

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Peep peep peep…it was looking at me too…first one little eye, then it shifted it's head to look with the other eye.....

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My very first reaction was to slowly…very slowly check the people either side of me, or standing close by me, to see if anybody else had noticed this little bird.

Left…no…right…no….in fact everybody on the jetty was very catatonic-ally staring at the indicator boards, counting down the time till the ferry arrived.

O.k….my next thought was, wow, I know I'm stressed, but is my mind playing tricks on me now?

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peep peep peep…peep peep

looking at me with one eye then tilting it's little head to look at me with the other eye.

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Then I thought…Oh just get off of your self and don't be so stupid! And most certainly do not EVER repeat this one to a soul…I mean, they prescribe lithium for much less than this don't they?

"I'm sorry miss, but you have what we would describe as grand delusions of DOOLITTLEISM"

peep peep peep…....

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now the little critter is dancing around my feet…this is where I start blushing , and cursing myself and a another thought flashes through my mind.

"Better stay off the wacky tobbacky for a while girl!"

Thank goodness everybody else is so busy looking at the indicator boards, and they don't seem to notice.

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peep peep peep…....

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The little critter is acting all frantic on me now…WHAT THE!!

I looked for the nearest clock (as I don't wear a watch), and I can see that my ferry is due in about 2 minutes…good!

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PEEP PEEP PEEP. ....

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I casually glance up at the indicator board and then I nearly pass out with disbelief!

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I'M ON THE WRONG BLOODY JETTY!!!!SHIT..SHIT SHIT. I grab my stuff, and RUN LIKE A BAT OUT OF HELL, down two jetty's along, and run through the turnstile, just as they are making the final call….run over the planky thing….PHEWWWW!...I made it.

I stake a stroll to the front of the boat, take a seat…It's very cold and windy…but I don't care.

I sit there for a good long while, and slowly but slowly I think to myself….was that little bird actually trying to alert me….could it actually have been…no…NO… that's impossible.....

I still feel in such wonderment every time I recall that story…All of it true…I never told any one about it because we are all so convinced that such things are impossible or just don't happen…Now days, I can't help but to wonder…How many fantastic opportunities or encounters have we passed off, or outright missed, because we are so convinced that…IT'S JUST NOT POSSIBLE!....

There…I've said it.

This story began to form In my mind the day before today actually, and I began to remember a story I knew as a child. The story is called THE HAPPY PRINCE. It was written in 1946, by Oscar Wild…My Father bought me a copy of the story on vinyl when I was 4 years old, and I still have it today. I can't listen to it anymore, because a lot of the new amplifiers simply don't add a phono outlet, so it has been in a box for 35 years…until yesterday. Well as it turns out you can download or audio stream the very same story from your computer…It is actually a classic tale. It is narrated by Orson Wells, Bing Crosby and Laurene Tuttle....

If you have a spare 12 minutes or so, just click on the audio stream link. The quality is poor, as it has never been re-mastered…It only exists on Vinyl. I have never been able to listen to this story without getting a lump in my throat or just outright bawling, but it's a beautiful story.....

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