Blue Bird

It’s where dad worked. That big abandoned building on Main Street. They say it’s the biggest abandoned building in the whole United States. It’s so big, it’s where we built machines that build the machines. Anyways, this place built textile machines, and it built me in a way. That sort of thing. A place kind of shapes you. I’m standing in front, outside the gates. I’m there for an interview but the whole place is boarded up and falling apart. I feel…soft and swollen. I feel something in my chest, like when you’re about to cry and there’s that tightness and that lump. But the lump gets bigger and bigger and I can feel it coming up my throat until finally this bird, a bluebird, flies out right onto my hand! He’s staring at me and I’m staring at him, little guy. I felt bad for him, you know, being stuck there inside me for so long.