Of The Nature Of Birds

"I'm a bird, you know," Jessica said without any sort of sarcasm.

I wasn't quite sure how to reply. It wasn't the most random thing she'd ever said but it caught me off guard since it was midnight and we were on the trunk of my car behind a McDonald's eating cheeseburgers.

"I flutter and soar."

"That you do, my friend." I assured her.

"It's one of my philosophies; soaring."

My first thought was that midnight cheeseburgers probably wasn't how Sartre and Kierkegaard had come up with their most deep philosophical thoughts. I took a bite that had pickle in it and ignored my previous notion.

"You gotta soar, my friend. No staying in the nest," she continued.

"I can't tell what we're talking about anymore, Jess."

"Winter is coming..." Jessica started, stopping me with "... and I don't mean like in Game of Thrones, either," before I could interject.

"It's all about how strong your wings are, my friend."

She turned her head and looked at me in a way she never had before.

"And you, you have strong wings,"