I have had an aversion to winged things since the time when I
was four years old and was chased by geese while my parents and grandparents
laughed. I can still hear them shouting “drop
the bread” while I ran and ran and was eventually bitten. Rude!
While I do not dislike all birds, I am not
terribly fond of them either. The only bird I have ever really liked up close
was a Cockatoo named Casey that my cousin had.
That bird was cool. He talked a bit and on command he would stand on top
of his cage and do a head bobbing dance.
We would laugh and call it “the Stevie Wonder” (with apologies to Stevie
Wonder). The louder the music, the
bigger the dance. But I never had enough
guts to hold Casey and over the years I have not developed a fondness for any
other close encounter of the bird kind.
Sometimes at work the loading dock door gets left open too long and we
get a sparrow inside. Recently one made
its way to back offices. The poor thing
was terrified and in a panic it flew fast and furious around the area. I have no shame in saying that I screamed “get
it out” and took cover. No, I’m not fond
of winged things.
But the crickets are not going anywhere; they are a staple
in Len’s diet. At some point I have to “man
up” and deal with this chirping insect.
Lenny has not been successful in hunting the creepy thing down. In fact,
he has become a little reclusive. I
think the chirping freaks him out. This
afternoon I was looking in the cage, shuddering at the wings on that bug. Its head has changed shape too and it looks
awful, akin to the head of a praying mantis. Gross. I then observed it and a
couple of its nearly winged friends drinking from the water bowl like a herd of
cows to the trough. At that moment I made a plan make the winged villains a
little less agile by way of dehydration. Less agile means better chances for Len for a successful
hunt. And even if the hunt fails, seeing
those dudes on their backs with their toes up to the mesh lid will give us all
peace of mind.
Tonight I fed and watered Len outside the cage and did not
refill the water bowl inside the cage.
Len will be fine and hopefully the winged one will be gone by the
morning. In the meantime I will try not to hear the
chirping. I will probably dream of geese...
