Bodega Bay. July 1, 1963 Monday
Melanie Daniels' car, driven by Mitch Brenner, immediately drove away from the Brenner home, which was surrounded by birds. The sight of these birds gave those driving shivers. Seagulls and crows, ominous animals, were probably preparing for their next attack.
The color of birds is black and gray, colors loved by
graveyard ghosts. Their beaks were extremely sharp, like razors. Cawing everywhere – the evil sounds of fallen seers. The wings are more ready to attack than to fly away. And all this under a blue sky with no sun. Only the clouds were visible and in them were people's dreams of escape.
At first the vehicle drove slowly so as not to scare the birds, but then it increased its speed. After driving along the bay, the fugitives reached the main part of Bodega Bay. The town was deserted because almost all its inhabitants had left, fleeing from the birds and their possible attacks. Mitch wanted to fill up the gas tank. However, he couldn't because the gas station was destroyed after the recent gasoline explosion. Mitch drove southbound. He stopped near John Stanley's house. The man knew that his old friend had decided to stay in Bodega Bay despite the whole bird thing. John Stanley boarded up all the windows in the house. Mitch got out of the car alone. This loneliness was ontologically bitter. The metaphysics of dreams was lost. Mitch felt not only an epicurean, but also a stoic and a skeptic in one. One could only dream of eudemonia. The logical wings of existence were called crows here and now. The man felt the pure ethics of history within him.
His sister and mother, as well as the injured Melanie, stayed in the car. Mitch knocked on the door of his friend's house twice, then rang the doorbell. After a while, John Stanley, a forty-year-old man, blond, six feet tall, came out. A conversation began between the friends.
>We survived a bird attack today. They tried to break into our house. The birds entered the attic room. I'm taking Lydia and Cathy and Miss Daniels to San Francisco. Melanie Daniels suffered the most because the birds pecked her. She's injured and I'm taking her to the hospital,< Mitch said.
>There was also a bird attack in my house. I hid in the basement, I thought it was safe there. They tried to damage the boards with which I covered the house's windows and doors with their beaks. We haven't heard any birds in this area for about an hour. Maybe they're gone for good. Mitch, look how they damaged the front door. They almost got inside.< John noticed the door, riddled with holes from seagulls and crows.
>From what I've noticed, the most dangerous are white gulls and black crows.< Mitch said, adding after a moment. >What are you going to do next?<
>Most of the residents of Bodega Bay have left the town. Maybe even everyone. I'll leave today too. I'll wait for the bus to San Francisco. To tell you the truth, I'm afraid of these birds. I don't know why they behave this way, maybe they are sick with something, some disease, which causes increased aggression.< John speculated.
>Quiet! Listen!< The young lawyer Brenner shouted in horror. >It's the crows again, you can hear the cawing. They are coming here again. Then there will be an attack. You must run, my friend, or you will suffer the fate of Miss Annie Hayworth, who was pecked to death by birds in front of the school building,< said Mitch. >Don't wait for the bus, just get in Miss Daniels' car. There is one more empty seat in the back.<
>Fine, I'll go with you. I won't take any chances walking towards the bus stop. These birds are a real horror, confessed the forty-year-old.<
While the men were talking to each other, Mitch's mother, Lydia, became very nervous. She wanted to leave this cursed place. She was afraid that the birds might attack again, this time the car, hitting the window with their sharp beaks. The woman noticed the yellow lovebirds that Cathy kept in Cathy's cage. The mother said to her daughter.
>Cathy. Let's release these parrots, they are birds too.<
>Yes, I know. Mom, please don't. They are innocent, the parrots haven't done anything wrong to anyone and won't do anything,< Cathy said.
>Leave the parrots alone, please,< said Melanie, having regained consciousness.
Their conversation was interrupted by Mitch and John, who soon came to the car. John sat in the back in the last available seat. The car soon left Bodega Bay. On the way to San Francisco, another seagull flew in through Miss Daniels' slightly open car window. The bird was behaving aggressively, flying all over the car and going crazy. He inflicted a head wound on Mitch's mother, Lydi Brenner. Blood flowed from the wound. The travelers had no extra bandages, so they used one from Miss Daniels's no longer bleeding leg. A bird almost caused an accident. Mitch slammed on the brakes, grabbed the nasty little bird and threw it out of the car. This was the last time the Brenners and Miss Melanie Daniels saw the birds at Bodega Bay. After an hour, the vehicle was already in San Francisco. Mitch first went to the hospital so that doctors could take care of his injured friend. After dressing the wound, Melanie returned to her home. Mitch's mother and sister decided to temporarily live in a lawyer's apartment in San Francisco. Time after time, I heard reports about birds from Bodega Bay and several neighboring towns on the radio. After a week, the birds stopped all attacks. The situation in the port town on the bay has calmed down, the crows have flown away, and so have the seagulls. It was like before again. Residents returned to Bodega Bay. The Brenners decided to sell their house in Bodega Bay and buy an apartment in Los Angeles. Somehow they did not want to return to the town marked by ominous birds. In March 1964, Melanie decided to marry Mitch. The woman was in love with him from the very beginning. The wedding took place at one of the famous venues in Las Vegas. Guests from San Francisco were invited, including Melanie's father – the owner of a well-known American newspaper, and the lawyer's family – the groom, sister and mother. After the wedding ceremony in one of the churches in Las >I'm glad you married Mitch, congratulations. You're no longer Miss Daniels, you're Mrs. Brenner.<
>I remember you saying, Lydia, that your biggest fear was being alone. Aren't you lonely out there in your new place in Los Angeles?< Melanie asked.
>It's completely different in a big city than in Bodega Bay. There are many attractions, you can go to the cinema, museum, park or restaurant in the evening. Cathy goes to a new school, has new friends. Everything worked out,< Lydia said.
>I heard that many people have moved away from Bodega Bay since the attacks of these birds. Many residents sold their homes or simply left them. Children and people suffered the most, especially when birds tried to kill them after school. The trauma and fear remains, and that's why people don't want anything to do with Bodega Bay,< Melanie said.
>Sometimes, when I'm alone, I wonder whether the birds might attack again in the future. Was this invasion final? I don't know, such unpleasant thoughts come to mind,< Lydia said.
>Please don't think, it happened and it's gone,< replied the bride. Vegas, a conversation began between Lydia Brenner and Melanie.
In 1965, Melanie gave birth to Mitch's only daughter, who was named Mary. The parents did not return to Bodega Bay for years, and thus did not think back to those birds from 1963. They also never told their daughter about this bird invasion. Mary was a very bright student at a college in San Francisco. From an early age she showed outstanding linguistic abilities. Mary was interested in the German language, she graduated in German Philology in Los Angeles and after graduation she stayed at the university as a research and teaching employee. Melanie and Mitch spent many years together. Melanie Brenner passed away in 1990 after a serious illness with cancer, and Mitch died five years later from a heart attack. Cathy, on the other hand, outlived her brother, a lawyer, and ran a successful flower shop in Los Angeles. The daughter of Melanie and Mitch, Mary, at the age of 35, in 2000, received a scholarship to the Institute of German Studies at the University of Vienna in Austria. The woman left America for good and settled in Europe. The Austrians offered a talented German teacher a job at their university. Mary lived in Vienna, right in the city center. The woman sold her parents' apartment to America in San Francisco and bought a quite nice apartment in the Austrian capital. Mary was a slim blonde, with light hair and blue eyes. She wore old-fashioned clothes. She was sensitive and stayed. She liked reading. She dreamed of traveling to beautiful mountains, preferably the Alps.
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