A few meters away from the balcony of our character's apartment, which I will call P. for literary purposes only, the top of the tree houses a nest of doves. The couple's back and forth suggests that they were taking turns feeding the chick, but the first time he saw it P. was unable to photograph it. After a few days of observing the routine of that winged family of neighbors, P. finally photographed its head after he timidly ducked to hide.
P. was pleased and shared the photo with his friends. That was the third time that the same nest was used by the dove couple.
Several days later, one of the doves began to fly insistently over the balcony of P.'s apartment and this caught his attention. Perched on the wall, the dove began to investigate the interior of the apartment with its curious eyes.
P. left the apartment and went to see what the dove wanted. He almost managed to touch it, but the bird flew into the tree. When he went back inside, the dove tried to land on the counter door, attracting his attention again. The bird scratched the glass and went to perch on the wall of the apartment's balcony.
Every now and then the dove moved its head as if to say it was having a problem. Afterwards, it wandered around on the balcony floor and this made P. imagine that it needed something. As it was very hot, he placed a bowl of water on the balcony.
The dove flew and returned, circled the bowl without touching the water and went to perch on the wall. Then it flew back over the balcony and landed on the balcony door, scratching the translucent glass again. After wandering around on the balcony floor, the bird landed on top of the old abandoned cage in a corner.
Empty, that cage was on top of a plastic bowl larger than the small ceramic pile that supports it. The square painting vessel was upside down, with a space between its side and the floor and between the side itself and the pile of ceramics. P. took a look at that gap, but did so without bending down.
“Okay, this little dove isn’t thirsty and really has a problem.”, thought P., going back to the balcony. He stopped next to the dove and asked what her problem was. The bird returned to the tree and this made P. look at the nest. He noticed that the chick was apparently not in the nest. The dove was evidently trying to say that something had happened to the chick? Only then did P. begin to hear the chick's chirp, but he was unable to identify the source of the sound.
P. lives on the third floor. So he decided to go down and see if the chick had fallen out of the nest. When he arrived at the place and started looking, the dove landed on the railing very close to him, watching what he was doing. After searching the lawn around the tree P. found nothing and returned to the apartment. When he got there he saw the dove again flying over the balcony and perching on the wall.
He returned to the balcony, the dove flew to the tree. Once again P. heard the chick's chirp, but was unable to find out where he was. Frustrated, he returned to the apartment convinced that he couldn't help the dove. The bird flew away and he went back to watching TV.
Minutes later, the dove was back, when P. turned around on the sofa to watch it, he saw the chick's feathers in the gap between the floor and the painting bowl that supported the cage. He immediately opened the balcony door and tried to catch the chick in the hiding place that had become a prison.
When P. lifted the plastic container, the chick went faster and flew to the wall and from there to the tree. Before reaching the tree, the chick got tired and returned to the building to perch on the protective net on the balcony of the apartment next to the one in which P. lives. Perched in the tree, the dove looked relieved and apprehensive. The chick was unable to stay in the safety net and fell, hit the wall of the apartment downstairs and accidentally landed on its balcony, remaining silent.
The next day P. went to the apartment's balcony and thought he heard something. However, it is not possible to know whether the chick was really chirping or whether the chirps were just echoes of the guilty conscience of those who were unable to save it. Was the chick dead and accusing P. or calling its mother on the balcony of the second floor apartment? P. thought about going to alert his neighbor, but remembered that he doesn't know him. Furthermore, the whole story seemed very strange to him, almost unreal. Afraid of being ridiculed or harassed, P. did what he does best.
This narrative is about a stupid and useless animal. He's obviously not a dove. The bird did everything in its power to alert the apartment resident, but P. simply couldn't understand absolutely clear messages. When he finally realized what was happening P. was clumsy and terrorized the chick instead of saving it. The rest is a small tragedy. In P.'s defense it can be said that he has a great propensity to formulate theories about the world without paying much attention to the world around him. Inexperienced, the chick cannot be held responsible for being clumsy and unable to return to the nest after having left it.
“Damn neighbor! Can’t he hear the puppy chirping on his balcony?”, thought P. as he entered his apartment again. Is he a stupid, useless animal? Perhaps he is someone whose personal history has programmed him to be pessimistic, antisocial, and unpleasant. Who knows?