A Gift from a Gull by Winthrop Murray
17 June 2021 { Fantasy }
Crunching along an uneven footpath winding down towards the sea. It's just a man-made track made from bits of brick, ceramics and pieces of smooth glass; but in the early evening light it is rather beautiful. The air is still warm and humid from the long summer's day and the low sun reflects in the shiny facets contained within the rubble giving the path a magical, glittering effect; a million sparks of light moving in and out of clarity. The heat of the day is radiated back from the bricks and rocks and the air is heavy with the scent from nearby fragrant shrubs. The path feels like a Mediterranean shingle beach, as a lone figure walks slowly along. The escaped yellow rapeseed, the nettles and the cow parsley are slowly replaced by sea kale, red valerian and sea holly as he gets nearer to the beach. He turns the corner and there is the sea, or rather the estuary leading to the sea. It is breathtaking, his heart is filled with peace as this place begins to restore health and equilibrium.
Colin had just worked a long and tiring shift at the factory. The thought of joining the traffic queue towards the motorway on such a hot day has resulted in this detour. His mind as usual is crammed full of spreadsheets and schedules and never ending 'to do lists' but these impromptu trips to the nearby seaside always seem to do the trick in restoring his frayed humanity. Today has been an extra long day; he'd been left with a pile of work at knocking off time which just had to be done before tomorrow. He stayed late to complete it, sweaty and alone in the huge building.
Colin sat down on a relatively smooth rock by the sea. He was at the unfashionable end of the promenade but could see plenty of people in the far distance. Here he was completely alone. He closed his eyes and did the breathing exercises he'd learned at yoga, he could feel the sun warming his head and the gentle salty breeze ruffling his hair. "Thank God for this place" he said out loud, to no one in particular.
"It is beautiful isn't it" a voice replied. Colin opened his eyes and spun round but there was no one there. He was confused for there didn't seem to be anyone around for miles. so he stood up to see if anybody was hiding behind the sea wall or one of the larger rocks but no, nobody. Puzzled he sat back down again and after a while his gaze slowly returned to the waves flowing on to the sand and the sunlight dancing on the hilltops on the far side of the estuary. There was a seagull sitting on the next rock along. It was a fine specimen with a pure white head, large black and white wings, an orange beak and orange legs; it seemed to be admiring the same view. "It really is quite stunning, isn't it?" said the seagull. Colin jumped up.
"What the?" he spun round trying to see who was playing silly beggars.
"What's the matter, have you never heard a seagull speak before?"
"Well no as a matter of fact I haven't" said Colin backing away "I can't believe this is happening, I mean, who's working you? This can’t be real... I've heard some birds like ravens and starlings can mimic the odd simple word, but..."
"How very dare you! I'm most perturbed by your scepticism about my verbal semantics" said the seagull, showing off.
Colin immediately apologised and said
"But why now, why me and why a talking seagull?"
"Well first of all let's stop this seagull nonsense, there is no such thing as a seagull per se. I am a lesser black-backed gull and when the 'man upstairs' suggested that someone should have a chat with you, it just so happened that today I was on duty. It could just as easily have been a dog, a cat, an earwig or a worm that was given this assignment. Are you following all this?" The gull tilted its head in an exaggerated pose, like a dog listening intently to a slowly dripping radiator. "You know we just need to have a little chat, that‘s all. A bit of ‘gull therapy’ never hurt anyone" added the bird.
"But why now? Things are going quite well for me, why do I need gull therapy?" said Colin, getting a little defensive.
"I'm here because you’re falling into your old habits; you’re working too hard and not looking after yourself again aren’t you? You know what happened before. When was the last time you had a good meal?"
"Last night" said Colin, lying.
"Don't try and pull the wool over my eyes Colin Bickerstaff, last night you had Pringle sandwiches didn't you? You forget there are birds everywhere and they all report back to me. That wood pigeon that sits on your chimney pot and gently coos you to sleep each night, well that's Eric and he reports directly to me. The robin redbreast that follows you around the garden eating the worms and insects that you dig up, that’s Barrie and he works for me as well. The blackbird that sits on the lamppost outside your bedroom window and sings the most beautiful songs at six am each morning, well he’s on a temporary contract with my department and his name is Caruso."
"Blimey" said Colin "I had no idea."
“Well haven’t you heard the expression ‘A little bird told me?’” said the gull.
“Ahh” said Colin “I wondered where that came from.”
Colin asked a few more questions and the gull gave satisfactory answers, so he began to relax. They both sat there chatting; silhouetted in the gorgeous orange sun as it sank lower towards the horizon.
The gull therapy lasted over an hour and covered the meaning of life, self care and any hopes and dreams for the future. It included a thirty minute guided meditation where Colin regressed to his childhood. I won't go into any more details as gull therapy has strict codes of practice with regards to confidentiality, but needless to say it was both enlightening and productive for the patient and therapist. At the end of the consultation Colin felt a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he generously thanked the gull for putting him back on the right path. He felt ready now to walk back to the car and head off down the motorway towards home.
"Before you go I have a little gift for you" said the gull. He hopped on to the sea wall and dropped a small feather into Colin's hand. "This is for good fortune, place it somewhere prominent and it will remind you to always count your blessings." He then launched himself into the air, soaring effortlessly upwards on his huge feathered wings.
"Thank you" shouted Colin. He looked up at the gull flying high into the blue sky directly above him.
"Oh and just one more thing" shouted the gull "...it's for good luck".
"Oh flippen 'eck" said Colin, wiping his spectacles.
Comments
We would be delighted to know if you enjoyed this story or not. Our authors crave feedback and will hang on your every word. Your comments will only be visible to them.