The idea for “The Broken Bird” sparked in my mind when I read Ring Lardner’s great classic story, “Haircut.” The idea of innocence and malice nesting together frightened and intrigued me and the story just unfolded, layer by layer, each one revealing a bit more of a very disturbing picture.
As dark as it is, I like the hope and humanity that shine through in this story, for there are always blessings to be counted.
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When Father Tonio Rinaldi was five years old, he’d gone for a walk with his grandfather and found a dead bird on the sidewalk. It was a baby, its graying pink skin fuzzed over with wisps of down, eyes bulbous in the tiny head, a beak like sharpened yellow lips protruding above the broken neck. A black line moved and writhed over the defenseless body, and To
