Whilst most stories begin in iconic cities, cities which overflow with noise, furniture and people, this one starts in Bolivia. Away from the business of La Paz or Sucre, we have to travel to the humid treetops of the palm trees of the Bolivian jungle. Here, you can hear the determined march of ants along the thick branches. You can hear shrieks from monkeys in play. Hot air gathers along the outlines of individual leafs, forming into beads which gather into long lines and then pools before plummeting onto dark green undergrowth. The sky turns from a bright blue to a violent pink as the night closes in. The night sweeps over the jungle like a drawn curtain. While some creatures wake up, others give into the deep call of the night. Parrots, toucans and geckos close their eyes. These day creatures are now in the sweet embrace of dreams and sleep. But a Blue-throated Macaw stirs. She shifts. Agitated by images that flash and interrupt her sleep, she wakes up with a jolt.
"Wake up. Oscar wake up."
"I'm up- I'm up."
Oscar looks up- he's surprised to see moonlight, to hear the humming of flies.
"What is it mi amor?" He asks her.
"I had a really bad dream- it was so vivid."
Oscar moves closer to her on the branch and dips his beak into her deep turquoise plumage, the scent of which is as familiar to him as the scent of nuts and seeds."It was just a dream baby," he murmurs softly, "You're safe. You're awake now."
In the familiarity of his soft warmth and his comforting scent, she begins to relive her dream with him.
"There were 300 of us, perhaps less. Across the jungle there were murmurs and whispers that there were less and less of us... and then there were these vans- men with bags- big canvas bags and netting- they foraged among the undergrowth at first but then they would climb up and- and-"
"Don't." Uttered Oscar, "please- don't tell me anymore."
"But it was so vivid... I saw metal bars and boxes- dark boxes for birds... and we were being chased. We were fleeing up into the air- but it was as if we couldn't get high enough- their nets swiped at us. Oscar... it was so real."
"Sleep my Mia. Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day."
"It... it..." Mia trembled at the thought but forced herself to say. "It wasn't a dream... was it?"
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