Suddenly, a Peacock

A writing prompt is a brief statement, question, word, or even an image that provides a specific topic or starting point to inspire and guide a writer. Prompts can stir either biographical or fictional content. I typically use prompts to inspire fictional content – as in this case – and help me create experiences for my characters.

The prompt:  Suddenly, you notice that there is a large peacock standing beside you.

My earliest memory is of my third birthday.  If I’m honest, many of the memory details are surely products of the frequent retelling of the story and some probable, but slight, embellishments of the story.  But it’s my story.  And Alex’s story.  It is the story of the day that Alex saved my life.

My mom and dad packed the car with a cooler full of sandwiches and drinks, along with their four kids, for an afternoon of fun at the zoo.  It was a celebration of their youngest child (that’s me) turning three.  We headed to Potter Park Zoo in Lansing. 

Excitement had been building all week within my older siblings, (Ryan, 13, Paige 11, and Alex 6) knowing the weekend plan and having had the experience of visiting the zoo previously.  Paige and Alex hyped me up with stories of zebras and giraffes like those in my picture books.  Ryan who enjoyed teasing a willing mark, made my eyes go round with stories of gorillas that pounded their chests, ferocious lions that roared so loud it could make your ears bleed, and snakes bigger than Alex that could squeeze the breath out of you with its hug.

Needless to say, by Saturday when my birthday arrived and we were all loaded in the car with our picnic lunch, my excitement had reached a fever pitch.

Once in the park, I pulled on my mother’s hand, tugging and pleading for her to go faster as we moved from exhibit to exhibit.  As it turned out, there weren’t zebras or giraffes, but there were kangaroos and penguins which were just as good in my mind.  I dug in my heels and refused to go into the reptile house where the snake who gave hugs awaited me, not realizing it would be at the lion exhibit where “it” would happen.

I was standing on the sidewalk looking into the lion enclosure, vibrating with anticipation.  “He could squash you with one paw,” Ryan had said.  “He could step on you and pound you into the ground.”  I stared ahead, squinting my eyes, both hoping that the ferocious lion would, and would not, appear.

I reached to my left for my mother’s hand, but it wasn’t there.  I felt her ‘presence’ at my side, but something didn’t feel quite right.  I slowly turned and found myself face to face with a blue headed bird wearing a white mask. He was as big as me.  

I heard a growl and pounding feet as Alex ran toward us, roaring louder than the African Lion, the angry peacock, or me.  He was waving his souvenir safari hat in one hand and a ‘zoo crew’ T-shirt in the other. With a final screech, the peacock took several running steps and gracefully lifted onto a fence several yards away.

My mother was suddenly there scooping me into her arms and comforting me.  She carried me to the drinking fountain where she used paper towels produced from her tote bag to apply cool water to the angry red marks on my arms.

“I saved her life!” Alex announced proudly.  “I did that.  That peacock could have pecked Carly to death, but he didn’t, because I chased him away.  Right, Mom?  Right?”

“She’s fine, honey,” Mom said distractedly.

But that day became the day that Alex saved my life.  That’s how our family always referred to the event, and I came to believe that it was true.  I was here on this earth, because my brother, Alex, had made it so.