A LOVELY MEMORY

For 10 days we were parents to an injured egret. Brenton found it wandering around our backyard one day. It's wing was so badly injured that it just dangled badly from it's body, only just still attached. We didn't know what to do with it so we just took it in and figured we would just see what happened. At night we put him in a box so that he didn't become prey for one of the many neighbourhood cats. We had to put a stick in the box for him to perch on though, otherwise he wouldn't sleep. During the day we put him outside to get some fresh air and to stretch his legs. Still, he actually seemed to prefer our company. If he got bored or hungry he'd come and wander through the house to see what was going on. He particularly seemed to like Prince, though I don't think Prince was so keen on him, and would stand at a safe distance watching him while he cleaned the van or covered books. Other times he would just wander around the house and try and make sense of this strange new world.

He was a fish-eating bird, so we went to the pet shop and bought a small tank of guppies. We would put them in my laundry tub and he would go fishing. We also got him a little frog and he scored a few of the prawns that I was shelling for dinner once. Apart from that, we went to the fish market and bought some smelly, little fish that we could freeze and break off a few whenever he needed feeding. He was quite willing to come and take the fish out of our hands.

We really hadn't been that sure he would make it through the first night, but after a few days we figured it was safe enough to give him a name. Because Brenton had found the egret, we gave him the privelege of picking a name. Brenton decided that 'Lovely' suited him quite nicely, so Lovely the egret he became. But unfortunately, despite his inquisitive behaviour and healthy appetite, his injuries must have still been quite severe because 10 days after he first came into our yard, he died. Brenton was brokenhearted. Still, our constant travelling really made it difficult to take such continued care of him. I'm just glad he died with a full belly.