She was in tears when she rang.

‘There are feathers and blood all

over the living room, can you

come around and sort it?’

 

The cats were waiting for me

when I arrived. They seemed

quite pleased with themselves.

They followed me as I walked

 

in. A huge black thing was

huddled against the window.

It was still alive. I looked down

at the cats, and they were

 

backing off. They looked at

me as though to say: ‘We got

the fucker in here, now it’s

your job to finish it off.’ I

 

reached for the bird and it erupted

in a desperate round of flapping and

screeching. The cats, no doubt

emboldened by my presence, tried

 

to pounce. I managed to grab the bird.

It struggled in my hands before

submitting. It was in a bit of a mess.

Its head bobbed around as I looked

 

into its sequin eye. I briefly considered

putting it out of its misery, just

grabbing its head and snapping

its little neck, but I couldn’t do it. I

 

didn’t have the balls. I wrapped it in a

towel, and had a smoke while I

struggled with the responsibility. I got

the feeling the cats weren’t too impressed.