(200 word short story published on 1000Words on 21-Dec-2013)

Keith appeared in our porch on Christmas Day. It was the chirruping that made Reuben go to the door. Next to the cage was a bonsai.

"Mum, can we keep him? We’ll call him Keith."

Do butchers deliver on the big day? I’d not ordered anything. Reuben carried the cage while I put the tiny tree on the table. It made for a nice centrepiece.

From his shelf, Keith’s orange face surveyed me as I basted the turkey.

Reuben was more interested in the bird than his presents and fed him bits of bread roll. We had a lovely day, the three of us.

Boxing Day brought further twittering. Two smaller brown birds sat there. No additional foliage. Reuben only had eyes for Keith, so we put their cage on top of the fridge and opened some sweetcorn.

Yesterday, when we found three scary-looking chickens, I called the rescue centre.

"Swans are our speciality, dear. But bring them down anyway."

I had to explain to Reuben, poor lad, that Keith would be better off there.

We went again today to drop off some blackbirds. Reuben enjoyed seeing Keith.

If this carries on tomorrow, I’ll give Reuben’s dad a ring.