The guests had not yet taken their places at the tables and were mostly just standing around greeting one another, which left me pretty much to my own devices.

I hadn’t planned on wandering away, mother’s words were still fresh in my mind after all. But then my attention was caught by the bluebird that came flying around my head as if trying to get my attention.

“Hello pretty bird, where did you come from?” I expected the bird to take flight at the sound of my voice ...