The Harbinger

'Your end is a dead blue wren,' Trent Dalton.

In Dalton's book, Boy Swallows Universe, the main character's mute brother, spells this message out by drawing the words in the air, portraying the tiny, Splendid Fairy Wren as a harbinger of what is to come. Through the many terrifying challenges that Eli faces, this prediction lingers. However, it is the same bird that leads him to discover that which marks the demise of the villains in the story.

This is currently high on my radar due to the fact that, since yesterday, a Splendid Fairy Wren, with his distinctive blue markings, has been tap, tap, tapping on my living room windows. He hops from window to window, in a seemingly endless burst of energy. I thought at first he was staying low and sheltered due to the strong winds, but after a few hours my reasoning became darker. What if he was trying to give me a message? What if he actually is a harbinger of death? I don't really want to dwell on that one.

I turn to Google for encouragement and support and discover that, in fact, this little guy may well be a harbinger of Spring, in which case he's more than welcome to keep tappity tapping as that season seems to have bypassed us here at the end of the universe so far this year. Hang on a minute, I'll be back.

I have returned. Wren has gone, or maybe he's just on smoko, or perhaps it's because one of the hounds is galumphing around like she's auditioning for a TikTok reel. I certainly see no sign of Spring today, it's still cold, grey and very windy. So just in case I have instructed the boys to go carefully out there, checked my heartbeat (still irregular but nothing more serious) and will be keeping the dogs indoors.

Hopefully, I will be here with more words to share tomorrow xxx