The courier taking Connie and the other birds from the lab to the observation center dropped her cage in the parking lot and she was the only one he didn’t catch. Now she was free.
“Hello little birdie,” said the young girl. “Are you hungry?”
The coturnix quail hadn’t eaten in a long time.
“I’ll get you some bird seed.” The seven year old ran off, and Connie stayed because of food and decided to live with Eloise.
The longevity researchers gave up on the serum experiments because Connie went missing. Both she and Eloise lived another seventy years.
I wrote this for the Rochelle Wisoff-Fields photo writing challenge. The idea is to use the image above as the prompt for crafting a piece of flash fiction no more than 100 words long. My word count is 99.
I know the photo Rochelle posted isn’t a coturnix quail (commonly known as a Japanese Quail), but ten seconds of Googling didn’t reveal the species in question so I faked it.
I did discover that Japanese Quail have been a popular laboratory research animal since about 1957 and is used in the studies of aging and disease. The lifespan of this bird is about two to two-and-a-half years. Of course my experimental bird Connie lived a good deal longer and was a kind and loyal companion to Eloise all the days of her life.
To read other stories based on the prompt, visit InLinkz.com.
I hope Connie lived a simiilar lifespan
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I tried to say that in the story, but I guess I wasn’t clear enough.
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I got that, James.
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Cool! I had no idea!
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Neither did I until I looked it up. Sadly, Connie is fictitious and there are no 75 to 80 year old quail.
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Chuck Jones’ roadrunner is 79, so there’s that. He’s almost a quail.
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Dear James,
Sweet girl. Smart bird.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle.
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I love how you do your research and then share the results with us. It was clear to me from your final line that they both lived for over seventy years. Interesting story – and coincidentally, my story this week featured a little girl too! 🙂
https://susan-a-eamestravelfictionandphotos.blogspot.com/2018/06/just-bird-100-word-story.html
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I’ll give it a read when I have the bandwidth. Thanks, Susan.
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Fate intervenes, perhaps this discovery was just not mean to be discovered!
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Or, we’d all be living healthy and fulfilling lives into our 120s, Iain. 😉
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Loved the idea that Connie and Eloise lived happily together for such a long time.
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Yes, it was my “happily ever after” moment. Thanks.
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🙂
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And a good one
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They were born to be together. Nice one James
Click to read my FriFic tale
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Thanks, Keith.
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Nice irony at the end.
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Thanks for reading and commenting.
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Great thing for the girl to have a bird for her whole life… maybe they had a great life together.
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I’m sure they did, Björn. Thanks.
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Such a lovely, heartwarming story.
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Thank you.
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Fate they say hangs on such moments.
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It did for one bird and one little girl. Thanks, Mike.
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I enjoyed your heart warming tale.
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A nice story, James. I like the way you tell us in the last line that no-one – whether Connie’s researchers or anybody else – had cracked the secret of extending the human lifespan. From that pov perhaps it was as well that the courier lost the bird…
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I think so, too, Penny. Thanks.
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Darn, it worked too! I’m glad Connie escaped and they had a nice long life together, though. Better than being observed and dissected.
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That much is true. Thanks.
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I love the name you gave the bird. Connie is so warm.
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She is that, Alicia. Thanks.
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Sweet and most interesting.
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Thanks, Linda.
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I love the idea of a quail escaping its laboratory fate – they are sweet little birds. Also tasty, but that’s another story 🙂
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Yes, they are tasty. 😀 Thanks, Liz.
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i loved it. looked like they lived happily ever after. 🙂
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Thanks, Plaridel. Maybe I should have used it for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie “Happily Ever After” prompt.
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I believe it’s called a California Quail. It sounds like the escape worked out to Connie’s advantage. Nice tale.
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Thanks, Russell.
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Very nice! Without Connie they never knew the experiment worked…bummer. =)
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Yeah, darn it.
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Finally a happy ending for the poor bird. I love this, the little girl found a friend for life, and so did Connie.
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Thank you.
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