Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Out of Town


It had been five long days since Baldwin’s neighbor left town in her green jalopy, and there had been no one to refill the bird feeder or clean the birdbath.  Baldwin meowed his complaint loudly even though he was alone. “How could she be so irresponsible as to not ensure that the neighborhood birds were taken care of in her absence?”  


Of course, Baldwin had to acknowledge that the day his neighbor zoomed out of her driveway, the bird feeder was filled to the brim with large, dark sunflower seeds, and the birdbath overflowed with clean, sparkling water.  “Ah yes,” he recalled as he licked his paw to keep a stubborn ant from biting him.  “All the birds feasted happily on sunflower seeds for one entire day, and even those three pesky, thieving blackbirds brought their migrating friends too.” 

Baldwin shook his head as he recalled the extremely loud bird chatter.  The blackbirds laughed at him when he decided to wear his bright red earplugs.  They even attempted to snatch them from his ears while he was dozing.  “But now,” he concluded with a sigh, “the party is over!” 

The birds don’t check the feeder for seeds anymore” Baldwin meowed in deep disappointment as he laid his head down in despair.  He felt that his neighborhood had changed overnight. There were no birds to chase away, nor any juicy gossip to listen to.  The air was empty; there was no noise.  Baldwin was lonely and blue.  Suddenly he sat up in alarm and exclaimed, “Where are my earplugs?!”