I was sitting in the backyard of my house. The sun was about to set, and the wind was blowing gently. With my eyes closed, I was losing myself in a feeling of inner peace beyond the world around me. As time passed, I gradually sank deeper into this state. But slowly, I started becoming aware of my surroundings as I heard my mother calling me inside; she had made sandwiches.

Just as I stood up from the chair to go inside, I suddenly felt something fall behind me. I became worried.

Naturally, I felt a bit of fear, but then I turned and was shocked to see a pigeon lying there.

For a moment, I was frozen, unsure of what to do. But then I decided to see what was wrong with the pigeon. Upon closer inspection, I found that the pigeon was injured and in pain, with a wound under its wing.

I immediately called my mother and siblings. As they came out and saw the pigeon, my mother told my sister to go to the kitchen and get the first aid box. My sister hurriedly fetched it. We all felt very sorry for the pigeon.

My mother carefully held the pigeon in her hands and applied iodine tincture to the wound. The medicine irritated the pigeon’s injury, causing it to flutter in agony. My mother kept a firm grip and tried to soothe it.

Gradually, the pigeon relaxed, but it needed immediate treatment as it was in severe pain. Besides the wound, we noticed that the pigeon couldn’t stand steadily. It seemed disoriented, with no control over its movements.

Mum advised us to call our cousin, a veterinary doctor, and tell him that we were coming to him in an emergency. Without wasting any time, we went to him and showed him the pigeon. Our cousin, the vet, diagnosed that, in addition to the wound under its wing, the pigeon was also suffering from dizziness, likely due to not eating enough because of its injury.

He prescribed some medicine for two weeks and advised us to give the pigeon a nutritious diet. During this time, we took great care of the pigeon and gave it the medicine on time. We named him Kuku. As time passed, Kuku became our friend, and we grew attached to him. Gradually, he became healthier.

On the day we completed Kuku’s medicine course, our cousin, the vet, visited our house. We showed him Kuku, and he was impressed by how quickly Kuku had recovered and gained strength. We were all glad to see Kuku healthy. Although we wanted to keep him with us forever, we didn’t want to imprison him.

Thus, with heavy hearts, we let him fly away into the sky, where he could live with his fellow pigeons. We were sad to lose him, but also very happy that Kuku would now reunite with his family.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 21st, 2024