I hung back, but then she grabbed my t-shirt and pulled me forward.  Face to face, she stared intently into my eyes.  

“THIS will be the BEST meal you’ve ever had!” She said pointing to the ingredients on the counter, not breaking eye contact with a slightly twisted and demented smile.  I couldn't help but feel entertained and uneasy at the same time.  Curious but unsure.

“..ok..” I said meekly, looking back and forth at each of her eyes.

She pulled away and started tending to the ingredients.  Uncertain of what to do with myself, I walked over to the table and sat down.  

I saw a bottle of ketchup on the table and started messing with the corner of the label as I read it.  I picked it up and saw it was all settled at the bottom of the container.  I shook the bottle and the lid flew off the top, causing the ketchup to go flying everywhere.  It speckled onto the wall, and gooped down my hand and onto the table. 

Oops...  I looked down.  Ah my shirt.  I grabbed a handful of paper napkins on the table while quickly glancing in her direction and tried to clean it up as fast and discretely as I could before she noticed what I had done.  I quickly grabbed the lid, put it back on the bottle and put it back where I had found it, trying to look casual and hoping she hadn’t seen anything.  Thankfully she seemed fully engrossed in what she was doing to pay too much attention to me and my antics.

I could hear the crinkling of wrappers, the slam of pots and pans, and her muttering to herself under her breath as I looked out the kitchen window.

The sun was shining bright behind a few clouds, slightly blinding me.

Suddenly, a dark shadow started coming closer and closer to the window and rushed in.  Only just then realizing the window was actually open, I flinched and flailed my arms up and over my head, ducking as the shadow whooshed past.

As I went to look towards the kitchen, I heard her scream.  The shadow whooshed and fluttered past her head and up to the top of the refrigerator.  “AAHHH WHAT WAS THAT!?!?!”  she said startled and looking around.

Not a shadow…a bird.  With slight relief but also concern for how to get it back outside, I quickly got up and walked towards the fridge.  She looked a bit panicked.  “Don’t worry, we’ll get it out of here” I said looking around for a broom or something.

Just then, the bird fluttered again and dive-bombed her, causing her to drop an egg as she screamed again, putting her arms up in defense.  “Get it out!!” she yelled.

I lunged forward to try to catch it with my bare hands, as if I could actually do that. 

I missed.

Shocker. 

It fluttered again in the other direction, knocking small items off a shelf.  I chased after it again with no luck.

“Get a net or something!!” she screamed at me.  

Panicking, I rushed to look for one, but my foot squished onto something slippery, sliding quickly forward and out from under me as I crashed onto the floor into the goop.  

“Ugh! What..?”  Confused, I then saw the shells by my leg from the egg she had dropped.  Ew.

The bird squawked and fluttered around some more.  She ran into the other room and came back with a giant net on a pole.  Why she had that is a mystery to me, kind of like most things about this girl.

She ran in the direction of the bird, trying to catch it as it continued to flutter around. 

Eventually, it landed on a beam higher up.  “Ugh now I can’t reach it!”  she said frustrated and annoyed.

“Here,” I said reaching for the net.  I stretched as much as I could to try to reach it, but the bird was still slightly too high. “Come on bird, get in the net.”

The bird looked, and leaned toward it slightly.  Is it really going to jump in?? “Come on little birdie..”

The bird looked some more, pausing as if to think about it.  My arms started getting tired from reaching up as far as I could, making me feel impatient.  Come on..

The bird gently brought up its wings a little.  Is it going to go in..??

Then the bird fluttered away to another part of the kitchen.  “AH!! GOD! SO CLOSE!! FREAKING BIRD!!  GET IN THE NET!!!” I screamed in frustration while she sighed next to me.

“Wait... do you smell something burning?” I asked turning towards her.

She sniffed a little, her eyes going very wide and looking serious all of a sudden.  “OH NO!!” she exclaimed immediately running towards the stove.  She quickly turned off the burner under a pot that was looking a bit black from burning.  “The peas…” she said in a sad tone while pouting her bottom lip.

She looked at me with disappointment in her eyes.  “I guess it won’t be the best meal you’ve ever had.”

I looked at her lovingly “It’s definitely one of the most memorable meals I’ve had and I haven’t even tasted it yet!”

She exhaled a gentle laugh “Yeah..haha” she said slightly smiling as she leaned into my side.  It was nice and comforting after the chaos, despite the mess in the kitchen and the smell of burnt food.

SQUAWK!!

“AH!” we both exclaimed and jumped from being startled.  We turned to the bird just in time to see it fly right over us and out the window.

Freaking bird.