Bomber, The Nazi
Fighting Hummingbird
Bomber adjusted
her little flight jacket and secured the small peacock colored scarf around her
neck. She’d seen the human fill the
Hummingbird feeder only this morning and by now the sun made the sweet nectar a
perfect temperature for tiny stomachs.
“Die you Nazi cowards!” She
screamed as she dove from above the big Crepe Myrtle down to the eave of the
back porch and the red glass feeder shaped like a very fat tulip dripping sweet
nectar.
“Good”, she fluttered. “I have out-smarted
the Nazi ants yet once more.” She began
to drink the red syrup from the feeder keeping a watchful eye on the
surrounding country side for the evil bee which could mean her death. Her world in the backyards of the
neighborhood is full of flight and fantasy, but also danger. Her only weapon is her speed and the fierce
look she can bestow on her adversary, looking mean and squinty eyed down her
long beak, but that’s marginal. She must
not let her imagination run away while she’s eating. Yep, it had happened once before as she drank
from the glass feeder imagining terrible battles about to begin. On one occasion she was pretending to drink
from a large Amaryllis in a small cottage garden in a little French village
just minutes ahead of the German army. There
were only a few moments to get the sustenance that could keep her strong for
her mission… when out of the blue and to her surprise, the tip of a huge wing
knocked her out of her reverie and onto the porch into a large fern which softly
broke her fall. It was the great scary
owl, Hannibal whose snack she was to become but she was saved by the human
sitting on the porch swing, with her broom, daring him to enter the porch. Since then, Bomber’s been cautious with all
her feeding places. Her best friend in
the yard is Amy Birdheart. There’s a strong
connection between the two. She and Amy
are both very brave. There was talk for
weeks that Bomber had gone under the porch and pooped on Justin Bubbles’ big
shell. Rumor has it that she accomplished
this wild act of defiance in return for his saying very negative things about
Amy’s landing methods.
If you knew Justin Bubbles, you’d know
that NO ONE, BUT NO ONE touches his shell.
One finger print on that brightly polished house he calls home and
you’ll face dyer consequences. Well,
Bomber left a lot more than a finger print.
Anyway, Bomber is
a wonderful friend to many in the back yard and they love her spark and
joy. They come from all over the
neighborhoods on warm summer nights and gather round the big bird bath to
listen to her colorful stories and tall tales.
Even Jake the Pine Snake coils around Bill’s roots and secretly listens
to yarns about places he can never visit and creatures he’ll never see.
Honey and Moon, A Married Couple
There are many
animals and birds that make their living and live in the back yard. To know them all, one would have to sit and
watch, quietly, softly with no malice of heart or soul and with no thought of
harm to these lovely beings. Two of the
most dear are a couple of morning doves named Honey and Moon. They are a funny couple and act more like old
married folk than honeymooners. You can
hear their soft “whooing” from backyard to backyard through the neighborhood
when they’re on their way to feed from the seeds dropped on the ground by the
big feeder. Honey lands first and begins
his foraging with Moon directly behind him finding seed he’s missed. Moon feeding on his leftovers makes Honey
angry and she knows it but does it anyway.
She’s always bragged of being the best forager and likes to prove it
daily. Once he let her go first thinking
she’d leave some, but she harvested that seed from the ground as close as a big
combine gathering a load of wheat. So,
the others in the yard give them room for their games and try not to come
between them. Moon has often been heard
to say…
“That bird’ll be the death of me
with his stubborn ways and self importance.
How can he walk right over all this seed and not see it? I declare he is blind as a bat.”
At which Honey answers…
“There’s a bat around alright and
her name should be ‘crazy as’ and she’s going to be the death of me with her
competitive spirit and refusal to give me the respect I deserve.”
You can hear them muttering around
the yard all day. Eating and muttering,
eating and muttering. Amy asked Zelda the
goldfish one day…
“How do those two find time to eat
their seed with all the jabbering going on?”
Zelda came to the service of the
pond, her answer sounding from a fluorescent bubble…
“They have the disgusting habit of
talking with their mouths full. Try not
to watch, it could make you lose your lunch.”
Amy agreed and flew away with a
last smile at Zelda’s tail as it splashed back down into the water.
Honey and Moon are a part of the
whole that makes up this world and as such, are loved and respected and
considered part of a family.
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