A tiny bird named Jessica, a 9-year-old girl and a big storm should have been a very sad story, but thanks to the kindness of strangers, it wasn't.
The story began with a door just slightly ajar. While 9-year-old Renee Lundy and her mother, Rebecca Lundy, were cleaning the fish tank, Renee's year old parakeet was exploring.
Jessica, the parakeet, is hand trained and often spends her time sitting on Renee's shoulder. That Sunday afternoon, Renee looked up and saw Jessica slipping out the front door. They rushed outside to call her back, but Jessica had disappeared and Renee was heart broken.
"We put out a cage and some food and we called her," Renee reported. "She didn't chirp back. It was very scary. I thought I was never going to see her again."
It was Renee's grandmother, Gloria Johnson, who thought to put a photo on Facebook. She posted it in Bella Vista groups and they waited.
But on Monday night, a violent storm swept through the area and the adults were very worried
A week later, almost 10 miles away, a man was working in his garage when a tiny blue parakeet swooped in and landed on his shoulder. He realized the bird must be a pet and lured her into his screened in porch with some bird seed. His wife turned to the same Facebook pages that Johnson had used and posted a picture of their unexpected guest.
"What was really inspiring was the number of people who responded when the post went up," Rebecca Lundy said. Johnson's phone was pinging rapidly as members of the Facebook group saw the photo and contacted her.
"It's amazing how the community came together to look for this bird. You wouldn't find that in a bigger community," she said.
They checked the mileage as they went to retrieve Jessica. She was 9.8 miles from home.
When they picked her up, "She was all fluffed up and sleeping. She just looked at us and went back to sleep," Renee said. She was a very tired parakeet.
After her adventure, Rebecca Lundy said Jessica was headed to the vet to have her wings clipped. She will still be able to flutter around the house, but she won't be able to fly a long distance. It's a little like grounding your teenager who missed curfew, she said. Jessica is still a young bird.
Renee is just happy to have her friend back on her shoulder where she belongs.
General News on 06/12/2019