Sam, Josh and Mallory looked up at Leo from where they were all sitting on the floor, petting the pigeon. Mallory tried emotional blackmail. ‘Oh, Daddy…’ But Leo wasn’t in the mood. ‘Leave the damn pigeon alone and get out. All of you.’ Reluctantly, Sam, who was convinced the pigeon *was* POTUS, let Mallory put the bird back in the cage. ‘Night POTUS.’ ‘Out!’ Mallory stroked the pigeon’s head through the cage bars. ‘We’ll be back tomorrow.’ Leo scowled. ‘They will not!’ When they were alone, Leo opened the front of the cage and the pigeon walked around the apartment, going into each room in turn before coming back to the cage. Leo knelt down, stretched out his hand slowly and gently stroked the pigeon along its back. Sitting down, he tore a small piece of bread from his sandwich and held it out. Just when he was about to remember how he actually felt about the bird, the pigeon hopped onto his lap and, ruffling its feathers, settled between his legs, facing him, pecking at the bread. ‘Okay POTUS. See. I’m not gonna hurt you.’ The pigeon looked up, apparently startled at the words, but Leo fed it another piece of bread and it settled back down. ******************** ‘Can we come?’ ‘Come where?’ Leo looked up as Sam and Josh appeared in his office doorway. ‘Mallory said you’re going to release POTUS today. Can we come too?’ ‘Sam, it’s not gonna be like, a big thing.’ ‘Yeah, Leo, it is. POTUS is going to be returned to the wild, fit and healthy.’ ‘No.’ Sam looked like he was about to cry, and Leo relented. ‘Okay. But you can’t…’ He tried to think of something, failed, then looked down. ‘I gotta do this. I’m leaving at nine.’ ‘Okay. Mallory’s coming at eight-thirty.’ ‘Whatever. Now do some work. Both of you.’ ****************** The pigeon sat in the cage, ignoring the fact that the door was open and freedom was only inches away. ‘Get outta there!’ ‘Leo!’ ‘Dad!’ ‘What?’ Sam scolded: ‘You’re scaring it.’ He reached in and stroked the pigeon, who came towards his hand as he moved it nearer the cage door. As soon as the pigeon was on the grass, Leo lifted the cage up and began to walk back to the car. ‘Dad!’ Josh and Sam both put a hand out to stop Mallory following her father. ‘He needs some time alone Mallory. He’ll be okay.’ As he spoke, Sam watched as the pigeon walked, then fluttered, then flew towards a tree. ‘Bye POTUS.’ End Home