{"id":842,"date":"2010-10-08T15:03:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-08T15:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=842"},"modified":"2010-10-08T15:03:00","modified_gmt":"2010-10-08T15:03:00","slug":"new-flash-fiction-bec-zugor-in-in-the-flying-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/new-flash-fiction-bec-zugor-in-in-the-flying-room\/","title":{"rendered":"New flash fiction: Bec Zugor in in the flying room"},"content":{"rendered":"

Flying Room<\/span>

 <\/span>
Eighteen budgies \u2013 one for each of my years, and all named after their colours \u2013 live in The Cage That Dad Built. It\u2019s not your average two-perches-up-two-down affair; it's better, all wood and chicken wire and proper branches. And space. Real flying room.<\/span>
 <\/span>
I remember when he summoned me to inspect his work. \u201cIt\u2019ll be the best damn aviary in the county, lass. You\u2019ll see.\u201d And he\u2019d stood back with arms folded and a smug grin, like he was posing for the cover of <\/span>Cage Builder Monthly<\/span>. I was interested in ornithology back then; I had binoculars and books. That\u2019s what had given him the idea. I walked away without a word, and I knew it was wrong of me, but I couldn\u2019t do anything about it.<\/span>
 <\/span>
Now, nine years later, I\u2019m standing outside, breathing in the delicious pet shop smell of the millet and peering in. If Dad hadn't sold some of the birds, we'd have been over-run by now. Limey and Buttercup doze near the nesting boxes. Alien (the grey budgie) tries to hop on top of Phantom (the albino). Phantom's having none of it and flutters over to the seed bin, so Alien chases Comet instead.<\/span>
 <\/span>
Custard's beak goes 'scritch-scritch' on the cuttlefish bone. I poke a finger through the wire. She clambers on, her claws feeling like a half soft, half scratchy ring. She\u2019s my favourite. She was born after Dad died, but he\u2019d have liked her, I know.<\/span>
 <\/span>
A flurry of feathers. Squawks. Sky scraps with River on the woodchip floor, setting the others off. Flapping wings scatter fine debris, down and seed husks, making the air smell dusty. Fever pitch. Now the screeching could reach the goes-right-through-you level on a chirpometer. Custard joins the melee and I cover my ears.<\/span>
    <\/span>
Their colours look pretty in the dappled sunlight. That's why Dad built the aviary near the apple tree. In the space I'd long ago earmarked for a swing.<\/span>

I wonder if the birds will miss me when I\u2019m away at Uni? Probably not,
\nbut I like to think they will. \u201cYou\u2019ll be spreading your own wings,\u201d Mum
\n keeps saying, but her smile doesn\u2019t reach her eyes.<\/span>

 <\/span>

* Bec Zugor's<\/span> fiction has appeared in ezines and magazines including <\/span>Microhorror, Weirdyear<\/span> and <\/span>Escape Velocity<\/span>. Find out more at <\/span>www.beczugor.com<\/a>

<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flying Room Eighteen budgies \u2013 one for each of my years, and all named after their colours \u2013 live in The Cage That Dad Built. It\u2019s not your average two-perches-up-two-down affair; it's better, all wood and chicken wire and proper branches. And space. Real flying room. I remember when he summoned me to inspect his work. \u201cIt\u2019ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}