Little Bird

You can leave a note for a writer or cast member. Click here to text the show. When triggered by a challenge from her peers, the daughter of a former military interrogator puts her father's inhumane lessons to the test, endangering her friends in order to protect herself. “Little Bird” is adapted from the short story of the same name which won the Black Warrior Review Fiction Contest in 2014. I wrote the first draft of the story in grad school in a class titled The Literature of War. The title comes from an Army cadence call in which the speaker lures a beautiful bird to the window sill and kills it. I was inspired by the grotesque and inhumane images from Abu Ghraib prison. I couldn’t help imagining those guards who treated others in such a despicable manner going home to their own families. The story has been adapted into a staged reading as well as a screenplay. This episode contains profanity and adult situations as well as suggestions of abuse. It is intended for listeners over the age of 13. A little bird with a yellow bill Was sittin' on my window sill I lured her in with a piece of bread And then I smashed her little head —Army cadence call Narrator: Lily Sanders Soldier: Kai McAlvin Sir: Tim Knudson Sam: Ryan Goffman Eddie: Eddie Philpot Marco: Marco Marx Sound effects courtesy of Pixabay. Special thanks to Annie Weaver, Shenandoah Evans, and Travis Maguire.