by Sarah Earlene Shere, ©2024
(Mar. 29, 2024) — There once was a baby shorebird, named Piper, who lived by the sea. Poor little Piper had been afraid of the dark ever since the sun turned black in the middle of the day and remained that way for three hours. But it was more than the darkness; it was accompanied by something she had never felt before; there was a heavy stillness, a silence that was deafening. From then on, Piper found it nearly impossible to sleep at night. She’d lie there in her nest, watching the horizon, waiting to see the golden glow of dawn. Even so, dawn now held a bit of dread, for it was just before dawn, only three days after the darkness, that a violent quake had shaken the earth. From then on, each morning found Piper hunkered down at the edge of her nest, trembling with fear, staring at the horizon, unblinkingly.
But something was different about one particular morning. As the navy blue sky faded in the coming dawn, Piper saw a figure of a man, sitting at the water’s edge, bending over a pile of burning coals. There was something about the man that she couldn’t look away from. Suddenly, she felt drawn to Him. Slowly she exited her nest and made her way across the sand. The closer she got, she heard Him softly singing as He turned fish on the coals and arranged bread nearby. Suddenly, He lifted His eyes to her and smiled. Without a word, He placed one of His scarred hands on the sand, closed His eyes, and stayed there a moment. Then He opened His eyes and slowly lifted His hand, revealing several delectable looking mollusks.
Piper’s little heart leapt with excitement. She hadn’t felt the strength and courage to eat of late, but now, beside this man, for the first time in days, she felt safe and hungry. Excitedly, she devoured the feast before her. She realized how overzealous she must have seemed when she heard the man laughing with pleasure as He watched her. But she didn’t care. She didn’t feel judged or mocked.
When the man was finished with His work, He reseated Himself, facing the sea. Piper hurried over to Him and nestled down in the sand beside His scarred feet. Looking back up at Him, she saw Him give her a smile and a nod before fixing His gaze on a small fishing boat.