A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  The boy’s eyes were as green as the parrot’s feathers, with tears spilling out.  He kicked angrily at the railroad ties with every third step.  The parrot seemed to sense when the boy was...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  His overalls had torn out knees and one of the straps hung down his back.  His hair hung in his eyes.  The sun beat down overhead, creating the need for him to wipe his forehead free of the sweat droplets...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks. I shouldn’t say along- he was actually wobbling upon the rail, arms spread, as if he were walking on a tightrope.

“Come on, Jessie!” he turned back at me, slipping from the metal as he did so. He...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks. His light brown hair and hazel eyes didn’t set him apart in a crowd and there was slightness to his build that made him seem fragile, but he had a wiry strength that came from growing up on the rougher side of town....read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks. His sneakers echoed the tap-screep, tap-screep, tap-screep of the dusty brown boots in front of him. He had began the pattern walk that matched his grandpa’s a few miles back and now neither one noticed...read more

     A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  I noticed him immediately. I can even remember commenting on it to the Missus. I mean, just the boy wouldn't have warranted a remark.  Even the parrot might have slipped past without a word....read more

Chapter One

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  He stumbled, barely able to stand. Tedd, a game warden, watched the boy from his place on the porch of the ranger station. He could not tell how old the boy was, but he could tell that he was in...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks. Out of the window from the fast-moving train, I glanced again to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. Sure enough, there was the boy with his parrot, dangerously close to the tracks. My mind popped up with questions...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks. The sun was scorching the back of his neck. He looked in the distance. The air was shimmering with heat. He wiped a thin layer of sweat off his brow. He was thirsty. The bird clenched its claws tighter on his flesh and...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks. Before he found himself in this strange place he had begun his day as any other waking up to the sound of his parrot squawking in his ear. After completing the usual getting out of bed formalities he set off with the...read more

            A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  Although, plodded, or even trudged may have been a more appropriate term for the young man’s gait.  His clothes were ragged and worn, his...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks. Rhythmically taping a long gnarled stick, which had been surreptitiously shed of its leaves, along the railroad ties in pattern only detectable to him the boy chased away boredom with the grand adventure of his own...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks. i saw him as I drifted into darkness. As I came around I found myself not in the hospital, where I expected to be, but in all together different place. A quaint aroma of pure harmony and happiness filled the marvelous...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.

The parrot’s feathers were bright red and glistened in the late afternoon sunlight.  From my perch I might not have noticed the boy at all, but the parrot shone bright against the deep, dark shadows of...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  He carried a heavy wooden bucket in one hand that made him lean toward the rails like a root to water.  He wore a tee shirt that was once bright yellow.  Red shorts, no...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks. He stumbled sometimes, when the white cane he held and swept back and forth in front of him along the ground missed something that could trip him. A grimace came over his lips when he stumbled, angry at himself, at the...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  He had the looks of a strange kid, you know the type.  The type of kid who eats worms or sticks markers up his nose but I had no choice.  I was the new kid on the block.  I couldn't afford to be...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  That was what the officer told the crowd.  “Stumbled upon two bodies this morning.  Parrot found ‘em first, flew over to ‘em, the boy ran over chasing after the bird and nearly...read more

                A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  The boy was tall, lean, and slightly hunched in his walk.  The parrot, a bright red, neither spoke nor moved.  It...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  The sun peeked above the horizon, casting a brilliant light upon the two.  Snow capped the westerly mountains, beneath which stood the schoolhouse, where a group of finely dressed men converged beneath a...read more

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  Night was coming and flashing lights showed in the darkening sky.  The wind blew through the trees like a siren wailing a warning.  The boy tried to balance on the narrow rail.  He stopped as his...read more

 A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks. The boy, eight years old with brown hair and green eyes glazed over, saw everything in darkness. 

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  A man stared at the photograph, contemplating his previous life.  A boy with a beaming, youthful smile and a parrot resting on his shoulder was a mere reflection of the man’s past.  The man that...read more