Blue

DAISY

DAISY

Daisy began to stir groggily, remembering the weird dream she’d experienced earlier.

Whether hours or days had passed, she couldn’t tell. She smiled at the ridiculous

notion that the sky had fallen and the whole world had been wrapped in blue. As she

stretched her arms, feeling the warmth of waking up, she pretended she was in high

school gym class, getting ready for the next exercise.

With blood flowing through her youthful body, she purred like a sanguine and content

cat, until the moment she opened her eyes. Blue. Everywhere blue. Her vision was

still sheathed in blue-tinted plastic wrap.

She jerked up to a seated position, her alarm intensifying as her senses kicked into

overdrive. Vision was a bust. She still couldn’t see anything but blue. She strained

her ears and thought she detected something that sounded like a pigeon cooing. The

rapid pounding was, no doubt, her own heart. It felt like it might try to escape

from the center of her chest.

Her olfactory sense again noticed something slightly bird-like. It was strange and

foreign. Mystified, she began to stretch her arms and legs, and wiggle her fingers

to see if there was anything she could touch or feel. Smoothness. Nice. Something

soft. Ouch! Something pinpricked her finger. Since her tongue had offered the most

tangible clue before—the tacky thing—Daisy decided to try that again.

Gingerly her tongue peeked out from its hiding place inside her mouth. At first,

it met only air. Then, there it was again, the thing that made her want to rub her

tongue against her teeth and pucker her lips and spit. What the heck is going on?

Is this for real? Clearly, I’m not dreaming.

Her tongue was attached to something plume-like and she couldn’t shake it loose.

Her mind flew in a hundred different directions, none of them making sense, until

finally reality came into focus. She was stuck to what appeared to be a feather,

and not just any feather, but a resplendent peacock feather of brilliant cobalt.

“Pfftt. Pfftt,” she sputtered as she tried to disengage herself from the cottony

surface. She shook loose and broke free only to discover herself eye to eye with

the bird in question: a royal peacock of grand stature.

Holding her gaze with his crystal-clear eyes, the peacock kept Daisy immobile with

a mere twinkle. As her own vision came more clearly into focus, she began to distinguish

other shades of color she hadn’t been able to see when she’d been buried inside the

nest of his feathers.

Blue turned to green that moved toward black and back again. There were two parallel

lines of ivory feathers on either side of the glistening eye, and they folded seamlessly

into the pointed beak that punctuated the graceful head. Daisy found herself in a

state of spellbound fascination. She was so caught up in the beauty and grandeur

of this elegant creature that she forgot to be either confused or frightened. Relaxing

slightly, she continued staring at this glorious phenomenon that she was suspended

upon.

“Hello.” The fabulous beast spoke with elegance and a voice of kind authority. Astounded

by that single word, Daisy tumbled from her perch near the base of his neck (it must

have been at least five feet long) and landed with a thud on the earth.

“Goodness gracious, my dear. Are you all right?” the peacock queried.

“What’s happening to me?”

“Well, it appears that you’ve taken a fall. I’ll ask again, are you all right?”

“All right? Are you kidding me? I’m talking to a giant peacock! How could I possibly

be all right? I’m obviously going crazy, and you’re not helping!” Daisy flapped her

arms like an awkward baby bird, and her bottom burrowed into the mossy blue ground

beneath her.

“Well then, please let me know how I might be of assistance and I’ll do my best to

comply.”

“Stop talking!” Daisy closed her eyes tightly and shook her head, golden hair flying,

before sneaking another peek at the animal. “You’re still here? I thought you were

a dream or something. What is going on?”

“May I please speak now?”

“What?”

“Well, when I asked how I could be of assistance, you told me to stop talking. You

must realize, however, that it’s impossible for me to answer your questions if I

can’t speak. My goal is to help you in the best way possible, so do you want me to

talk or not?” The bird tilted his head toward the girl.

“Oh geez. Clearly you’re able to talk whether I want you to or not, but I appreciate

you being so considerate. I’m sorry for yelling, please go on. I really need to know

what’s going on here. Let’s start with, where the heck am I?”