The Blue Glass Bird
1Scene 1. A sunny apartment with plants on every windowsill. Mrs. Adeyemi is away visiting her sister. ROSA, age eleven, and her brother MATEO, age eight, have come to water the plants. A small blue glass bird sits on the windowsill.
2MATEO: (pointing) Look! The sun shines right through that glass bird and makes blue spots on the floor.
3ROSA: Don't touch it. Mrs. Adeyemi said that bird is special to her. Just hold the watering can while I reach the hanging fern.
4(ROSA stretches up on her toes. Her elbow bumps the glass bird, and it falls onto the rug with a sharp clink.)
5ROSA: (gasping) Oh no! (She picks up the bird with both hands.) There's a crack across one wing.
6MATEO: It's a tiny crack. Just turn that side toward the window. She'll never notice.
7ROSA: (biting her lip) I don't know, Mateo. She trusted us with her key.
8MATEO: Do you want her to be mad at us? Just turn it around.
9(ROSA slowly sets the bird back on the windowsill with the crack facing the glass. She does not look at it again.)
10Scene 2. The next afternoon. MRS. ADEYEMI rolls her suitcase through the door. ROSA and MATEO wait by the kitchen table.
11MRS. ADEYEMI: (looking around) My plants look so green and healthy! You two did a wonderful job. (She holds out two folded bills.) This is for all your help.
12(MATEO reaches for his money. ROSA keeps her hands at her sides. She glances at the windowsill.)
13ROSA: (quietly) I can't take it. Mrs. Adeyemi, I knocked your glass bird off the windowsill. It has a crack in one wing. We turned it so you wouldn't see. I'm sorry.
14(MRS. ADEYEMI walks to the window and turns the bird around. For a long moment, she says nothing.)
15MRS. ADEYEMI: My sister gave me this bird the year I moved to this city. (She sighs.) I am sad about the crack. But I am glad you told me the truth, Rosa. That took courage.
16MATEO: (staring at his shoes) Hiding it was my idea. I'm sorry too.
17MRS. ADEYEMI: Thank you for saying so, Mateo. (She sets the bird in the sunniest spot, with the crack facing out. Blue light spills across the floor.) From now on, this crack will remind me of the day you were honest with me. (She holds out her key.) I'm visiting my sister again next month. Will you two water my plants?
18ROSA: (surprised) You still want us? Even after we broke something?
19MRS. ADEYEMI: Glass can crack by accident. Trust breaks when people hide things. You told me the truth, so I know I can trust you.
20MATEO: (grinning) Then next month, we'll be extra careful.
21ROSA: And if anything goes wrong, we'll tell you right away.