Dream-bird

He was white, swan-sized, with a long curling beak and wet black button eyes. He was mine. My job was to fill his stomach with internal organs. There was a zip across his belly - opened up his insides were gory and half-full. I put the different shapes in one by one - a length of intestine, a couple of kidney-shaped sacs. The last bit wouldn't fit. I thought I might have to cut him, make the hole bigger. He lay patiently on his back in my arms, squirming a little from the discomfort, his life in my hands.