The sharp eyed Mockingbird sat alert atop the eight foot tall 4x4 post which served as the end point of the grapevine in Papa’s backyard. He was totally focused. His sharp eyes had detected the twitching tail of a gray and white striped house cat easing along the far side of the board fence separating Papa’s yard from his neighbor’s yard. It was the slow deliberate movement of the twitching tail which could be seen through the inch wide cracks in the fence. Father Mockingbird had a reason to be sharp eyed today. His son, Junior, was attempting to learn to fly and Father Mockingbird was on high alert as he scanned the area for possible threats to his son. Junior had already left the nest and was now sitting down on the ground beneath the grapevine trying to still the racing of his heart… the half fall, half flying descent he had just completed from the safe and familiar confines of his parents well built nest in the lower reaches of the nearby dogwood tree had really been exciting!
Just as father was watching over Junior, so was Mother Mockinbird. And, unfortunately for Nat the Cat she was perched up on top of the high gatepost toward which Nat was creeping. Nat wasn’t sure what was going on in Papa’s yard today, but he had sensed the excitement and heard the cries of the mockingbirds as they had called encouragement to their half falling, half flying son earlier. And his keen eye had detected Father Mockingbird sitting up on the end of the grapevine. Nat knew something was up! But , he was so focused on Father Mockingbird and what might be happening over around the grapevine that he failed to catch sight of Mother Mockingbird and for that bit of oversight, he was about to pay a painful price. Leaning slowly forward, she scanned the area for any additional threats and seeing none - she launched her attack!
As Nat slowly crept forward there was the slightest sound of rushing wind and suddenly he felt the hard rap of Mother’s beak on the top of his head! The suddenness of the attack and the sharp pain of her well aimed peck caught Nat completely off guard! He was startled and so frightened that he jumped up into the air and turned half way around expecting to find some kind of huge animal crashing down on him! Then as he settled back to earth he heard the unmistakable war cry of the attacking mockingbird as she shrieked in again for another pass. And as he glanced upward to try to locate his fierce attacker, Father Mockingbird sped through the nearby gate and executing a hard right turn, he aimed his beak at the top of Nat’s upturned head and delivered another painful and surprising rap right between Nat’s ears.
Then, as Nat cowered down and tried to consider which way to run, the even louder war cry of Billy Jay Bird joined in the excitement. And that was enough for Nat! He well knew the power and pain of Billy Jay Bird. On many occasions Billy had chased him here and there in the neighborhood and he had no desire for that game to start up again. Turning swiftly, Nat leaped to his feet in an all out run for the safety of a nearby hedgerow of thick azalea bushes and disappeared quickly from sight.
Victoriously, Father and Mother Mockingbird flew back over to the grapevine. There they saw that Junior had managed to flutter up into the lower reaches of the vine and was about to launch himself in another attempt to fly. Mother offered encouraging cries as Father once again resumed his post watching over the backyard and his soon- to- be flying son.
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And nearby, Papa slowly leaned back, smiling and chuckling to himself, as he settled back down to sipping his coffee and enjoying the early morning activities of the neighborhood from his comfortable perch in the swing under the flowering Crepe Myrtle bush in the corner of his backyard. “I bet old Nat’s got a bald spot on top of his old head now,” he laughed to himself. “He’ll have to learn to stay on his side of the street whenever he hears the mockingbirds and jays talking so much or else he’ll have to start wearing a toupee!”
The End
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