A man built the perfect cage for his canary.

Every bar was measured. Every perch polished. He calculated the ideal distance to the feeder and the water cup. Everything was arranged so the bird would be comfortable. So her life would be fully predictable, safe, familiar.

He loved his canary. He only wanted to protect her from the chaos outside.

But the bird stopped singing.

She perched on the perfect dowel in the perfect cage and stayed silent. She ate. She drank. She existed. But she did not sing.

The man was desperate. He changed the food. He refreshed the water. He talked to her. Nothing helped. His flawless system had failed in a way he couldn’t explain.

One day, in a surge of anger and helplessness, he struck the cage. The latch he had so carefully fitted popped loose. The door cracked open - just a sliver, barely noticeable.

He spotted it only the next morning. The bird was still there. Still quiet. “Fine,” he thought, “I’ll fix it tonight.”

And he left.

When he came back, he heard a song.

It poured from the cage, loud and rippling, filled with a life he had never heard from her before.

He peered inside. The canary sat on the same perch. The food was the same. The water was the same. Everything looked unchanged.

Except for one thing.

The door remained ajar.

The bird hadn’t flown away. She didn’t need to. She only needed to know she could.