The bird had been reluctantly accepted...

given by a friend of the community center with promises of dropping of a sizeable cage later in the week. It was too generous a gift to have voiced my protests over keeping birds as pets. As the week progressed, the kids took turns preparing its temporary cage: a box with small holes gouged out with scissor tips, a twig, bowl of water and ball of raw dough brought from the tortilleras down the street. I wasn't there at the time on the Friday we closed up the Center for the weekend, wasn't there to make sure the box wasn't closed off too tightly to the world. We discovered our friend Monday morning...too late. It was a good lesson for the kids in how to care for friends, how to be more considerate, how to see that their needs are being met, how to let them breathe.