The Cover Bird’s Last Show

The Cover Bird’s own voice was nothing but croaks and gargles, all gravel and snot. But he had a peculiar talent, a particular gift, where he could cover the songs of others, note for note. Every trill and flourish in perfect pitch.

He became quite a sensation after the great collapse and filled the grandest theaters in the greatest cities throughout the world.

Eventually though the crowds began to thin and the venues became smaller and smaller still, until this night, when the curtain rose to an audience of one, and he knew, this would be his last show.

He held nothing back that night. He gave it all. It was his best performance ever, performed for one lonely old man, seated center, second row back, who never once stirred, but whose shirt was soaked with tears.

When the final curtain finally fell he remembered every show, from the first show until this last, the crowds, the applause, the adulation, and the ovations. And as he stepped into another silent dawn, he knew he would remember this show most. This, his last show, performed for one man, the last man who still remembered, there where songbirds once.