non-grammy winner

the Infinite had smiled on me today.  well, the latest typhoon was said to be moving out but still these last few days it still drenched us with unceasing rains. now today, i felt blessed. it is raining but just in very soft drizzles. this is my off day from work and i decided to get up on the roof and rid the rusty gutters of accumulated leaves. if it ever rains, the cleaned up gutters will allow the flow of water towards the downspouts and not overflow on the wooden eaves.

i climbed up. i had no ladder so i have to get to the roof via the tree beside the house. i had to be careful since its trunk is a bit slippery on account of the drizzle. tucked behind my back pocket were a couple of black plastic garbage bags which i will use to gather the leaves.

once atop the roof, i looked around. the gutters were clogged indeed. mostly leaves from the tall avocado tree beside the house. the thin raindrops that were falling were soft against my arms but they were teasingly cold. it is morning, about eight o'clock but there is no sun, just gray clouds overhead still presumably laden with rain.

no sunbeams, so, no rainbow.

i immediately went to the task i assigned myself. clear the gutters of leaves. i did not wear any gloves.  i shoved my right hand into the leaf laden gutter and started cleaning. i grabbed a handful of leaves and thrust it inside the plastic garbage bag. the uppermost leaves were still fresh but the ones beneath were already rotting.  occasionally, a baby cockroach will dart out from beneath the leaves and crawl away to safety. i'll deal with them later when they are grownups.  also, worms, about three inches in length, slimy, slithery. i don't know how they've found their way up the roof gutters.  i just wrap them in leaves and thrust them inside the garbage bags. surely, the Infinite has different ways with the innumerable lives It is maintaining.

i was almost done with the first gutter. i felt i've crouched too long over it and decided to stretch my back for a short while. this is when she suddenly came out. this little brown bird. perhaps a robin or a ricebird. the little fella came out hopping over a delicate branch of the avocado tree. her rusty brown plumage is in contrast with the green leaves of the tree. she eyed me. perhaps i was intruding on the privacy of the little one. i looked at her. she never got scared even when i moved to press down on the accumulated leaves inside the garbage bag.  she kept flirting back and forth from the higher branch above her to the lower branch below.

she might have a nest there. i told myself. i craned my neck forward to scan the spaces between the leaves near where she stood. can't distinguish anything looking like a nest. well, i don't have the right to investigate further. she is actually keeping an eye on me. or, i might be imagining her to be. anyway, i went back to work.

this is when she started singing her shrill bird song. cascading notes only a bird can sing. some short notes, some longer trills but she surely is doing her thing.  i smiled inside. this slight drizzle, the cold, wet fallen leaves, the baby cockroaches scared of my veined hands, the slimy worms, the gray clouds overhead.  this is a moment of life. of being alive. and the entertainer, this bird, is warbling about it. this freedom that we enjoy.

she will never get any grammy award for this song but she did it. she made me happy inside and made my roof gutter cleaning an easy task.