Jayne the Joyful Junco

With a chip and a chirp as she worked, Jayne joyfully handled her daily tasks with a joie de vivre which her dearest birdie friends envied and did their best to emulate. With Jayne’s encouragement and support, it wasn’t so hard to be the best junco each one could be.

Jayne was also a wise little bird, so she occasionally took time to look after herself as well. She pondered the great universe and its reason for being. She examined her own tiny role and worried that she needed to do more, to accomplish greater things.

Jackson the Jaded Jay scoffed at Jayne’s concerns. “You’re just a little bird, Jayne. You’re supposed to eat and have babies and eat and have babies. That’s all there is.” To be fair, Jackson was pretty depressed. His wife had recently succumbed to West Nile Virus and his babies snatched from their nest by a big black and white cat.

“Jackson, I’m so sorry for all you’ve been through. What can I do to help?” asked Jayne.

“Indeed. What can you do? I’d say you can do absolutely nothing except chip and chirp and hop around looking for things to eat. That’s no help at all.”

For a moment, Jayne thought perhaps Jackson might be right after all. She was pretty sure there was nothing she could say that would cheer him up, at least not until he was ready.

But then she had an idea. “Wait here, Jackson,” she chirped. “I think I might know just the thing.” And off the little joyful junco flew, into the woods by the farm on the edge of town. She flew and flew until she finally spotted her dear friend, Jacqueline, a jay who had learned joyfulness just by being Jayne’s friend.

I guess the ending of this story is very predictable. Jayne introduced Jackson and Jacqueline and they became good friends, and eventually they married and had lots of joyful jay babies.

Jayne continued to look out for all her dear friends, but also continued to steal time away for herself where she pondered the meaning of life and fretted about her place in the great universe, wondering whether there wasn’t more she should be doing while she still had time.

I’d say she’s doing just fine, wouldn’t you?

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