Hummingbirds(Martin Green) Hummingbirds (Approx. 700 wds.)


This was an important day. My Mom was going to have an operation. She’d been in the hospital almost two weeks. They wouldn’t tell me exactly what was wrong (as if I was too young to understand, ha), but I knew it was serious. I was up early, had cereal for breakfast, then, to make myself feel better, got out my drawing pad. I drew my favorite thing, a hummingbird.

* * *

I love hummingbirds. They’re beautiful. They don’t come around our house very often. When they do, I love to watch them. They’re shiny, like little diamonds. Their little wings go so fast they’re a blur. They hover around a flower like a little airplane, then, zip, they’re off to another one. The first time I remember seeing a hummingbird in our back yard I was in kindergarten. When I went to school the next day I met Suzy, who became my best friend.. That’s when I decided that hummingbirds, besides being beautiful, also bring good luck.
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Over the next few years, whenever I saw a hummingbird I waited for something good to happen. Sometimes it didn’t, but a lot of times it did. One time I found a bracelet I thought I’d lost. Another time I finished first in my third grade class spelling bee. That’s when I told Suzy that I thought hummingbirds were lucky. She considered this, then said that because seeing a hummingbird made me feel so good maybe that’s why good things happened.

My Dad is a big Boston Red Sox fan. So am I. I started watching games with him when I was a little girl. A few years ago, when we lost the first three games to the Yankees (I hate them) in the playoffs my Dad was sad. “Here we go again,” he said. “The curse of the Bambino.”

But the next morning I saw a hummingbird in the back yard and I knew the Red Sox would win. I told my Dad, but he just laughed. After the Red Sox won the World Series I reminded him of the hummingbird. “Okay,” he said, lifting me off the ground; he was really happy. “If you want, the hummingbird did it.” I knew my Dad didn’t really believe that, but I did. The ancient Mexicans believed hummingbirds were lucky, I’d looked it up on my computer, so I wasn’t the only one.

* * *

I heard my Dad in the kitchen, he was probably having a cup of coffee. Then he came into the living room, where I was. “What are you drawing, Alicia?” he asked me. I showed him.

“Some kind of bird?”

“Daddy, don’t you recognize it, it’s a hummingbird.”

“Oh. I might have known. Look, I’ll probably be at the hospital all day. Mrs. Mulligan will come over in the afternoon.”

“Will Mom be okay?’

“If the operation is successful, there’s a good chance.”

“Is there anything I can do?’

“You can pray, Alicia.”

“I’ve been praying every day. I’ll pray extra hard today.”

My Dad didn’t come home so Mrs. Mulligan made me supper. I was doing my homework when the phone rang. I heard Mrs. Mulligan talking, then she said, “Your Dad wants to talk to you, Alicia.”

“Your mother had the operation and she’s resting. The doctors are very hopeful.”

“I know. Don’t worry, Mom’s going to be fine. Can I come see her tomorrow?”

“You know she’s going to be fine?”

“Yes. I saw a hummingbird today.”

“Honey, that doesn’t mean anything.”

“Yes, it does. I prayed to God and I asked him to send a hummingbird to show me she was going to be okay. And he did. Remember when I saw a hummingbird and the Red Sox beat the Yankees, even with the curse of the Bambino? I know Mom is going to be okay. I know it.”

My Dad didn’t say anything and I held onto the phone for a long time. Then he said, “Alicia, I think you’re right. I think I saw that same hummingbird before I left this morning. Maybe tomorrow you can see your mother. She’s going to be okay and pretty soon she’ll be coming home.”

I put down the phone and looked out the window to the back yard. “Thank you,” I said.

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