Monday 6 June 2016

The Ostrich

For audio click here 

Despite just having had some of the best sex in his life, Ben knew he had to end it with Andi. She may have been beautiful, kooky, clever and funny. His friends might well think he was a complete idiot for ending it with a girl from the premier league, but she had to go. He’d miss her smile, he’d miss her laugh, but sometimes mental well-being and happiness were not two sides of the same coin. It was regrettable, but in the morning he’d break the news, collect his things and not look back.

Despite the darkness Ben knew he was being watched... by an ostrich. A six-foot-tall, stuffed ostrich. Dead as a dodo, but returned to its former glory by some forgotten taxidermist who’d had a crush on Andi’s grandmother and thought a giant stuffed bird would win her heart - it hadn’t. For some reason Andi loved the bloody bird and was not willing to get rid of it. She wasn’t even willing to move it from the bedroom. In fact, she was not willing to have any conversation about it at, all except for correcting Ben, insisting it was a rhea not an ostrich. But Ben knew his birds, it was a bloody ostrich.

Despite it being an inanimate object, it unnerved Ben. Its beady, dead eyes followed him around the room, watching his every move with a judgemental sneer. What had those eyes seen in this room? Did they compare him unfavourable to Andi’s exes, or even when she used her own hand to make love to their memories? What did that bird know? What secrets had Andi confided in it? It was like having your mother-in-law and your girlfriend’s best friend in the room with you at all times.

Despite Ben warning her it was him or the bird she’d refused to move it. Now what did that tell Ben? She knew how he felt about it; she knew that it made him queasy, but she wasn't willing to make a sacrifice for him. So that was it, that was the real reason he was leaving her. The headline reason might be the bird, but read between the lines and you’d see a lack of respect for him, for his feelings. If she preferred a stuffed bird over him, it told him all he needed to know.


4 comments:

  1. So I can say nothing but this, Ben: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbHaWZad4s8

    ReplyDelete
  2. Please do another POV of this story with the dead bird holding the significance no callous man can understand:)

    ReplyDelete