The Red Bird

I tried my hand at creative writing and present you my very first (very) short story.
Critique is appreciated though please bear in mind that I´m neither a professional writer nor a native English speaker.

The Red Bird

There it was again, a red speck on a branch of the old oak tree outside his window. He had noticed this peculiar bird a few times already. With its bright feathers it was hard to overlook after all.

The first time, he ignored it, not being overly interested in the avian fauna. The next time however, he started to wonder what kind of bird it might be and how it ended up in this vicinity, for he could not recall ever seeing another one like it. He tried to look it up in books and on the internet but to no avail. It was neither a robin nor a northern cardinal, not a parrot and most definitely no flamingo. Whenever he saw the bird, it would be sitting on the same branch of the same tree tilting its head and looking at him. He never saw it land or fly away. It seemed to just be there at one moment and gone at another. Only after a few weeks would he begin to understand the meaning of these encounters, reluctantly at first. 

His job as a paramedic was a constant change between boredom and stress, the joy of helping people and the frustration of not being able to do so. Deaths occurred frequently around him but he recalled every one of them. More often than not he secretly felt guilty for the death of a patient, accusing himself of wrongly doing this or failing to do that.

It was on one of those nights: having returned home after an old man had died in his car, sitting beside the window of his kitchen, he remembered that he had been sitting in the same spot this morning before driving to work, being looked at by his crimson visitor. For the first time his mind made the connection of the red bird and a dead patient, almost offhandedly discarding it as purely coincidental. And yet...hadn't it been last week, on the day the little girl had died in a car accident, that he too had seen the bird? Rubbing his eyes he decided to stop brooding and to go to bed.

Days passed without anything unusual happening. Then, one morning, sipping coffee in his kitchen, he saw the red fellow again. With an uneasy feeling he hit the road, wondering what the day would bring. Shortly after lunch he was called to an apartment complex. In a rundown flat a young woman who looked twice her real age had taken an overdose. Despite his best efforts, she was dead before they could make it to the hospital. Even though being a man of science, he couldn't suppress his gnawing doubts any longer.

The next time the bird appeared, he felt fear and anger building up within him. He opened the window and frantically searched for something to throw to shoo it away, but when he looked up again, the branch was empty. Sure enough he was called to a man with cardiac arrest that day. Angry about the lingering prophecy and eager to prove it wrong, he gave the man cpr for almost an hour before finally admitting defeat. The next encounters with the bird evoked the same response but after repeatedly exhausting himself on a series of hopeless cases, his anger faded.

By now he had gotten used to his personal prophet of doom. Though glad for every day looking at an empty tree, he was not above acknowledging the bird's presence with a grim nod and lately even got the impression that his companion would slightly return it. Being dedicated to his job he would still give his best to help everyone he could. With up to a dozen patients a day he could never be sure for which one his visitor had appeared, but he didn’t try to fanatically avert the inevitable anymore.

After his retirement the appearances stopped. Over the following years his memories of their encounters faded and whenever he recalled seeing this red bird in his past, he couldn’t decide if it had been real or just his imagination.

He enjoyed his free time but eventually the years began to take their toll and each new day seemed to be more troublesome than the one before. On a bright October morning in the 81^st year of his life, he woke with a sharp pain in his right arm. While grabbing the phone to call an ambulance, he noticed the red bird sitting outside his window. Instead of the former grimness he now almost felt pleased to see his longtime companion again. For what felt like an eternity he would bear the pain and have a quiet conversation with his friend. After finally seeing him fly away for the first and surely the last time, he decided to put down the phone.

Lübeck

This summer (at least that's what they said it still was) I decided to spend some days in the city of Lübeck, capital of the Hanseatic League.
After seeing so much new stuff on my trip to the USA, I now needed the special feeling of walking among historic building.

At first some general impressions of the city:

 

Considerable parts of the old city fortifications are still intact

Also once a part of the city fortifications but already militarily obsolete when it was built in the 15th century, the Holstentor

A wooden model of the city in the 17th century

Throughout the city you can find houses with gates that lead to inner courtyards with nice little houses, the former poorer people's quarters

The most impressive building is without question the town hall, a huge building, especially for the time it was built.

The inside is even better and speaks volumes about how rich this city has been a couple of hundred years ago.

The entrance hall

The upper floor

The remains of a medieval mural

Door to the court room and the inside of it

America: Las Vegas

It was something special to visit this city that I had seen in so many movies. Just driving through the streets (well, mainly one street really) whether by day or by night and looking at all the crazy buildings was worthwile.

Apart from all the bling-bling it was also interesting to visit a center where local plants and wildlife were on display together with examples for gardening in the desert climate

America: National and State Parks

Redrock Canyon

Redrock Canyon can be reached with less than an hours drive from Las Vegas. It was my first time of ever being in a desert. The landscape is barren but surprisingly beautiful as well.

 

 

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National park is located to the southeast of Los Angeles. It is the place where two deserts, the Mohave and the Colorado desert, meet. The advantage of going there in spring is that one can actually see some blossoms.

 

Malibu Creek State Park

To the north of Los Angeles lies the Malibu Creek State Park, a very beautiful place, especially after seeing the desert, with little streams and ponds. The place has been used as filming locations for many productions, the most remarkable (to me) is the tv series MASH. They filmed the outside scenes there and the inside ones in studios.

 

America: San Francisco

San Francisco is a very unique and beautiful city. The weirdest thing for me was getting used to the very steep streets. Driving upwards I sometimes couldn't see anything ahead but the sky, making the driving somewhat challenging. On the other hand, driving down a hill, especially when headed for the bay, gave me a beautiful scenic view.

Things to see here include the harbour with some historical ships

 

Alcatraz

China Town

The Asian Art Museum with its marvels

 

Lincoln Park and the Japanese Garden

Presidio, where the scent of of the giant cypress trees hangs in the air

and Baker Beach with a good view on the Golden Gate Bridge and the spectacular sunsets

 

For more and much better pictures of San Francisco, I reccomend following the resident photographer Dave on Instagram. Here are some samples of his work:

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