Reddit Challenge story #15

Topic: An old apartment-bound woman and her canary! Please give him a unique name.

Chirp. Gilda O’Malley wakes up and slowly arises out of her bed. Chirp. Gilda rubs her eyes slowly, wiping away the heaps of crusty yellow-green sleep that have built up around her aging eyes. The wrinkles in her face appear like canyons, etched into her once-youthful flesh by years and years of life Chirp. Eighty-seven year old Gilda knows just what she needs to do to start her day. Chirp. Slowly, Gilda manages to move her feet from the bed to the floor; still in her nightgown she begins to shuffle toward the corner of the room where a birdcage stands it covered by a tattered, grey towel. Chirp. Gilda removes the towel to reveal a canary, perched atop a swing in the middle of the cage. The chirping stops as soon as the bird makes eye-contact with Gilda, who proceeds to place some food into the cage, which the canary gleefully jumps down to the cage floor to receive “here you go, Ms. Haysworth, enjoy!” Gilda’s day has begun.
The day passed with unusual speed as Gilda went about her daily tasks: grocery shopping, bridge with the gals and finally dinner with her daughter; all of it seems to fly past for Gilda. When she arrived back at her apartment however, time suddenly began to slow down and Gilda knew something was wrong. She rushed up the narrow stairs to her bedroom as fast as her failing legs would take her and when she arrived, her biggest fear was confirmed: Ms. Haysworth had died.
Gilda had known nothing but life with her bird for so many years that without it, suddenly she felt no purpose. She had named the bird after her first grade teacher those many years ago- the woman who had inspired Gilda to become a teacher, which she did- and the loss was as crushing to her mentally as it was physically. Over the next few weeks, Gilda’s physical state deteriorated. Though old, Gilda was always a healthy woman, but now it seemed that her body was suddenly failing her.
One day, seven weeks after Ms. Haysworth’s death, Gilda awoke to a strange sight: a powerful white light encircled her bedroom. She rubbed her eyes to try to allow them to focus but she was unable to see anything but the white light. Confused, Gilda stepped off of her bed only to discover the floor felt like nothing she had ever stepped on, like a cloud draped in velvet and filled with the finest down. Suddenly Gilda saw a familiar face, confirming to her where suspected she was and for the first time in seven weeks, she smiled. Chirp.