TWO MOURNING DOVES

“Nobody's out there.” I sighed as I looked out the window of our back door.

Alex was in the kitchen with me making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “Isn't that good?” he asked as he tossed the peanut butter knife in the sink and picked up his jelly knife. “Would you really like to see somebody in our back yard?”

“What?” I looked over at him then realized what I'd just said. “I wasn't talking about people. I was talking about the birds.” I looked back out at our woods. “I haven't seen a bird out there for days.”

“Isn't that a good thing for you?” he finished making his sandwich and leaned back against the counter and took a bite.

Now I was confused. “I love seeing the birds.”

“That's not what you told me on our last walk.” Alex reminded me.

It took me a second to remember that I'd told him my first nightmare as a child was after I'd seen the Alfred Hitchcock film called The Birds. “I'm only afraid of dozens of crows sitting in trees or on telephone wires staring at me while secretly plotting against me.”

Alex laughed. “Oh, that makes sense.”

“Hey, don't laugh.” I cried. “Crows are very smart birds. They can remember faces and if you do something against them they've been known to attack!”

Alex looked confused. “What have you ever done to a crow that would make them want to attack you?”

“Nothing!” I shook my head. “That's not the point. The school children in the movie didn't do anything either but that didn't stop them from being attacked as they ran down the road looking for safety!” I shuddered just thinking about that scene again. “But crows weren't what I was talking about.” I looked out the glass door again and pointed to my feeders. “I filled them hours ago and no one's come to visit.”

Alex looked outside. “How long were they empty before you filled them?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I'm not sure. I was so busy getting ready for Thanksgiving and then putting up all the Christmas decorations that it completely slipped my mind.” I looked over at him feeling a little ashamed. “It could have been a week or more.”

“Well, you just answered your own question!” He said as he popped the last bite of sandwich in his mouth. “They're mad at you and they're boycotting our yard.”

I sighed as I looked over at him. “That's not true.”

“Hey!” He shook his head. “You're the one who just said birds can recognize faces and can hold a grudge!”

“I said crows can do that.” I laughed. “I'm pretty sure a black-capped chickadee just wants to eat.”

“You don't know that for sure.” He kissed the top of my head as he walked out of the kitchen. “They could be in a whole other neighborhood, right this minute, asking each other what they did wrong to make you stop feeding them.”

“Oh, come on!” I cried as he went down the hall. “Now you're just trying to make me feel guilty!” I called after him. I turned and looked back outside scanning the woods for any sign of a bird when a set of mourning doves landed under my feeder and began pecking at the ground. “Hey Alex!” I called. “It's going to be okay! A set of mourning doves just landed!”

“That's great!” he called back. “I was really starting to get worried.”

I smiled. I knew sarcasm when I heard it but I didn't care as I looked back at the mourning doves pecking at the ground. “I'm just glad you guys are back.” I whispered to them.