99 word story – The Bird

This happened this morning. Every word is true.

On a cold, damp, May morning, my son and I were walking to the school breakfast club. There’s a serenity to that hour that the day erodes, bit by bit, as the noise seeps in. We crossed the empty road, hand-in-hand, and both stepped aside instinctively as a black shape fluttered out into the centre of the road, and disappeared.

“Dad, did you see that bird’s shadow?” he said, wide-eyed and innocent.

I looked up at the brooding grey sky above, the lack of any street lighting, or lights from houses, or cars…

“Yes, son,” I said, and gripped his hand.

 

Picture credit: flickr.com/photos/adders/15541087346