*Themes: Living plushies, suiting, bird costume

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It was a warm summer’s night and I was in my night clothes, a thin cotton shirt and a pair of shorts. Just as I was about to go to sleep, there was a muffled thud at my door. I went to my porch to investigate, discovering something that made me have a double take. It was a giant skin-colored paper mâché egg on its side, way bigger than the ostrich eggs I had seen during my childhood farm visits. As I lifted the egg up and expected it to be heavy, it was significantly lighter than imagined. There was something shifting about inside.

I took the egg into my living room and poked my fingers at it, discovering that the paper mâché shell was easy to break and my fingers left holes in the egg. At the tips of my fingers, I could feel that there was something warm and feathery. Without delay, I tore open the egg and was surprised to find a bird costume inside, covered in fluffy feathers of a vibrant reddish hue. A zipper ran down the costume’s belly and ended at the neck, where the face of a wearer would stick out. At the top of the hood was a stuffed beak of a bird with two shimmery design sewn-on eyes, reminiscent of the face of a baby bird. At the tips of each wing were mittens sewn to the main bodysuit, and similarly at the ankles, there were plush talons, stuffed adequately to be used as footwear to walk about in the costume.

Unfortunately, for someone who does not like to dress up for theatre plays or Halloween in my childhood, this bird suit was not compatible with me. Since it was delivered in an unlabeled paper mâché egg, there was no way to return it. I sighed, deciding to stash it in my attic when morning came around. For now, I just left it on my living room couch and headed off to bed, flopping on my back and staring at the ceiling. I did not manage to sleep, tossing and turning with the image of the bird costume in my mind. Outside my window, I heard a weird bird call before my body switched off completely, forcing me into a deep slumber.

When I woke up, I was sitting on grass, but it was not normal grass. The grass was made of different shades of green fabric strips and that was not the only thing made out of cloth. The sparsely distanced trees and mountains around me were made of fabric too. Even the blue skies had fabric seams! I stood up and wandered about in the strange fabric world. After a minute into my exploration, I heard the bird call that made me sleep the previous night echoing behind me. As I swiveled my head around, a giant reddish plush bird was diving toward me, swooping me up by the shoulder by its two hefty-looking talons. Instead of feeling the pain of the talons digging into my shoulders, it did not hurt at all.

I was securely held in the plush bird’s talons, but I still did not feel safe as it brought me into the fabric skies. Coincidentally, I was scared of heights and began to shiver in fear, shaking in the grasps of the bird. The bird dipped its head while soaring and was alerted of my phobias, gradually descending and taking me to a brown, bowl-shaped plush structure on top of a fabric tree - a plush nest. There were two red-feathered hatchlings chirping in excitement among squarish brown cushions as I was lowered into the nest, and I assumed that I was going to be food for these plush creatures.

Once I was in the nest, the two plush hatchlings encroached into my personal space as anticipated. I closed my eyes as they shredded through all my clothing and threw bits of fabric everywhere, but I was left unharmed. All my clothes were gone except for my gray boxers, leaving me slightly exposed to the eyes of the living avian plushies. I crossed my arms to cover my chest, exchanging gazes with the plush hatchlings as the mother of the nest watched, expecting me to do something. The plush birds tilted their heads at me for a while longer before a familiar mass of feathers fell in front of me.

It was the same bird costume that I refused to wear back at home. I crossed my arms and stated, “I’m not wearing that bird suit! I don’t like wearing costumes.” With my rebellion against her wishes, she and her hatchlings began to scream at me. I plugged my ears with my fingers but still could hear their deafening bird calls, eventually giving in to their requests. “Fine! I’ll wear it!” The birds stopped cawing as soon as I agreed to wear the costume, picking up the costume in hand and standing up at the center of the nest.

I unzipped the bird costume and felt the insides. It was soft and fuzzy, just like the fur of a household cat or dog. Pushing my legs into the suit, I thought it was going to be a hassle to fit my feet into the plush talons and I was proven wrong yet again. The plush material parted and compacted again to the size and shape of my feet, allowing me to remain comfortable while walking. I then pulled the outfit up my chest, slipping my arms into the wings of the suit and fitted my hands into the mittens at the ends of each wing. The mittens did not restrict any of my hand movements as I pulled up the zipper with ease, closing up my body in a warm, feathery embrace once I pulled up the hood.

“Now what?” I questioned, looking at the two hatchlings and the mother bird. The mother bird stuffed giant plush worms in the beaks of the hatchings, and now it was my turn. I shook my head to decline but she still stuffed it between my lips anyway. It tasted like fabric and immediately spat it out, pulling out stray threads and cotton that the plush worm had left in my mouth. The mother bird tilted its head, emitting a bird call before swooping down below the nest, leaving me alone with the two eating hatchlings. “So… Do those taste good to you?”

The hatchlings nodded as though they understood me, sitting and patting their already filled plush bellies with their wings. My stomach suddenly grumbled like I was starving, and I wondered what the mother bird had in store for me. A few minutes later, the mother bird returned with what looked like gummy worms, each the size of my fingers. The mother bird dropped the green translucent worms at the center of the plush nest, letting me reach for it and eat them. The worms were coated in some sort of flour so that it would not stick onto the fabric of my mitten-covered hands.

I took a bite of one and it tasted like herb-seasoned chicken, even though it was supposed to be a candy-like snack. I continued greedily indulging in every one of the gummy worms she had offered and soon found myself with a full stomach as if I had eaten a full-course meal. Drowsiness abruptly washed over me and I keeled over, collapsing onto one of the plush hatchings and using it as a pillow. The other hatchling proceeded to embrace me from the front, becoming a pseudo weighted blanket for me to be comfortable. The mother bird joined in and wrapped its wings around all three of us like a protective feathered umbrella, making me fall asleep much faster. With a smile, I dozed off in the care of the three plush birds.

From my subconsciousness, I could hear a bird call and was startled awake. I had appeared back on my bed, but in the bird costume I previously refused to wear. I shrugged and decided to keep it on, remembering the experiences in the plush nest as I snuggled in the bird costume and slept in for the day.