White pigeon

Frank and mom went to make their wedding invitations on Saturday. They biked out to the place in Brooklyn where Frank works.
They are going to be made from record covers, inspired by what Frank's boss does and sells.


The ride was nice, but mom was a bit nervous the whole time, because they had to go through some places that even on a Saturday the traffic is still a bit tight.

They get to Frank’s job and mom starts feeling weird, maybe it’s hunger, maybe it’s the fact that all the record covers have years of dust that they are breathing in, or maybe it’s because they are all alone in a big artistic warehouse. Who knows why, but they decide to go and get some lunch. They walk to the bagel shop where Frank eats every day, order some stuff.

They take their lunch and sit in the playground.


It’s a nice day out, a bit breezy and the playground is filled with Children and parents, and nanny’s and dogs. Mom mentions that one day they won’t just be able to sit in a playground and then leave when they want, because they will have kids who will want to stay.
There is a man who comes around with cotton candy on a stick, and the kids rush to get dollars from their parents and buy this mysterious substance, that god knows where or who made. (mom would never let her kids buy that shit, it’s like taking candy from strangers, or eating street meat).
But the kids buy it anyway, and mom gags at what could be in it.

Just as they are finishing their lunch and mom is feeding the crumbs to the pigeons, a little girl on a bike followed by a littler sister on her own bike reach the top of the hill entering the playground right where mom and Frank are sitting.

They turn to look as the littlest girl calls out to her sister,

“Look, look up in the tree there a white pigeon”.

The girl is biking down the hill towards mom and Frank as she continues, to call out “you know what grandma says, whenever you see a white pigeon it means that someone is going to die.”
The Girl whizzes past mom at that last part, locks eyes with her causing mom to audibly gasp in horror.

Mom, mouth open follows the little girl with her eyes as she swoops around the playground on her bike at top speed, weaving in and out of other children.

Mom turns to Frank hoping that he had the same horrified reaction, but he did not have one.
Mom breaths out and begins to discuss how strange and spooky and F’d up that little girls interaction with her was. Just as mom is shaking off the creepiness and they are standing to go, the little girl swoops by again chanting to mom someone’s going to die, a white pigeon means someone’s going to die”


The little girl bikes strait in to traffic and mom gasps as the thinks how horrific it would be if she got hit by a car right then.

Mom and Frank make their way back to Frank’s job and talk about how weird that just was, and what that could mean, and why such a little girl was talking about death like that.
Then for the rest of the day mom was on edge and hyper aware of her own death and other’s around her.

Strange Saturday, I guess from now on mom will be freaked out by white pigeons, and stay out of playgrounds.