A Prayer For A Prakeet

KIDS CORNER

By Ayesha Nasir, Hamilton, Ontario

Sawsan was very excited when her city’s animal welfare shelter called her parents back. They were going to adopt a parakeet!

She could not wait to talk to the newest member of her family, tell her about her day, and watch as she ate and drank from what they gave her. Sawsan’s father had placed the online order for the birdcage. “It was quite expensive,” said Sawsan’s mother, “But it should be a nice home for the little fellow.”

As the “New best friend”, as Sawsan kept calling the parakeet, was expected to move in soon, Sawsan tried to remember what all the documentaries on this creation of Allah had said. She wanted to be able to teach her friend a few words that could be said. She also was worried if her house was big and safe enough for it to fly in. Her mother had said they would need to bird-proof their home, but Sawsan was not too worried. She thought the parakeet would be fine.

The little fellow was a bright creature of wonder when it arrived. Sawsan could hardly stop smiling at it. She turned seven in March and with COVID-19 and all her plans being cancelled, the idea of bringing home a pet seemed even more appealing.

When her mother repeated the need to bird-proof their home, Sawsan’s father finally looked up from the newspaper and nodded in agreement. Her mother, who was repotting a plant, looked at the bird and said, “Sawsan, all creatures belong in their true homes and the only reason I’m letting you domesticate this bird is because you promised to be responsible.”

As if on cue, the parakeet chirped loudly. Sawsan nodded too once and thought she could do the bird-proofing later.

“I’m going to name you Widad,” Sawsan said to the parakeet, peeking at her from outside the cage.

A week of excitement passed for Sawsan and in her homework assignments, she kept writing about the other. Her mother would keep asking whether Sawsan had finished the list of tasks she had been given for the bird-proofing. Sawsan would keep putting it off and once, when she got very annoyed at her mother, she lied and said she had done all of them. After that, Sawsan’s mother did not ask her about the tasks again.

Since school was closed due to the pandemic, her teachers were conducting the classes online. But whenever it was Sawsan’s turn to speak, Widad would peep from her cage and make a whole lot of noise. Poor Sawsan. She apologised for the interruption, introduced her class to her new family member, and muted her- self as early as she could. Sawsan’s friends waved to Widad which made Sawsan very happy.

One day, Sawsan woke up with a strange sense of dread. She went to the cage and found that it was empty. Maybe Widad was flying somewhere in the house? Sawsan tiptoed to the kitchen to surprise her. But all she ended up surprising was her mother who was making pancakes.

Sawsan’s tummy rumbled with hunger. “Have you seen Widad?” Sawsan asked her mother who nodded and brought a finger to her lips, pointing at her phone. A Quran recitation that her parents loved was playing and her mother waited till the verse ended and paused the audio before the next verse could begin.

“Sawsan, I’m going to tell you some news which will be difficult to hear right now,” her mother began speaking.

Sawsan, who had climbed onto the kitchen counter, jumped off right away. She feared the worst. Their conversation was interrupted when her father walked in from the backdoor into the kitchen. His hands were covered with dirt and he was carrying his gardening tools.

Her parents told her that Widad had passed away. They were not sure how but when they woke up for Fajr prayers and pulled back the cloth from the cage, she lay there quietly with a puffed up chest. The water that was in her cage was untouched, her perches were empty, and the toys that Sawsan had carefully picked out for her were also just as she had last left them.

Sawsan cried more than she ever remembered crying. In her heart, she felt very responsible for Widad’s death and she wanted to tell her mother how sorry she was for lying instead of doing the tasks she was assigned. She told her parents that she would like to see Widad before she was buried and she would like to pray for her. Her father hugged her. Sawsan and her mother followed him outside to the small garden where her mother did her gardening.

“I got your mother’s permission and dug a grave for Widad in her garden,” said Sawsan’s father.

Widad was softly laid into the small grave and Sawsan attended the first funeral of her life. She prayed for this lovely parakeet that had so briefly lived with her. She prayed for all the parakeets in the world, that they were all safe and healthy. As she did so, she noticed two sparrows sit on the boundary wall of her home. Sawsan wondered if these birds were doing alright.

“Give her a better friend then I was to her and let her roam in a world where there are no cages, Ameen,” said Sawsan and her mother, who was so moved by her prayer, kissed her on the forehead and looked up at the sky.

Next week, Sawsan helped her parents plant a tree in the garden. “I want the sparrows to have a more comfortable place to sit. Maybe they can build a nest in this tree,” Sawsan said, thinking of how uncomfortable the boundary walls would be for the sparrows who were there each day.