The Pink Flamingo

To this day, I have a strong emotional reaction to pink flamingos. No, not the plastic ones in people's yards, the real bird. I can still recall the awe I felt at seeing a real live flamingo for the first time. I was about six or at the most seven, and it was a the Antwerp zoo. The tall bird was standing near a small fountain, on one foot. It must have sensed I was in awe, because I remember it checking me out, with its eyes being the only thing moving on its body. I decided to stand stock still too, and to this day I remember that flamingo and me having a staring contest. What mesmerized me about the exotic bird the most was its color, a salmon pink, that made its feathers seem almost fluid, and full of opaque light. I remember thinking that the teacher at school had been wrong. Birds were not just blue, or brown or grey,this one was tall, had a crooked black beak, had skinny pink legs and pink feathers. The world of adults apparently was not all they said it was. It was much better! I knew, because I was looking at something that seemed to have escaped a fairy tale. I wondered what else was out there the grown ups hadn't told me about. It must be pretty good, I decided, since they weren't telling me about it. Now, I learned that this particular wonder came from a far away place called Florida. That was in a place  called America. I figured the only way to beat the adults at their game of leaving me out of these wonderful things like flamingos, was to decide I was going to travel a lot. I had learned about peacocks from China a few years before, when my father had taken me to see one in a pastor's private garden. How come I was living in such a boring place, with brown birds, instead of pink ones, and where they had to bring in peacocks from China, which was even further away than America, to make our country half-way interesting? The experience probably added to a certain restlessness, and deep curiosity about exotic cultures. I found a very cute stuffed pink flamingo about a year ago, in the pet toy section of a local grocery store. I love that silly looking thing, and what I love most about it, other than that touching it satisfied a long standing desire to touch a real flamingo, is its salmon pink color, which to this day has the ability to transport me to that magical moment when I first laid eyes on that beautiful bird, that did not make a sound the whole time I was observing it.