MANIC MOCKINGBIRD

I knocked on my son Alex's bedroom door. “Can I come in?” I called.

“Sure!”

I walked into his sitting room and saw that he had a clear plastic bag of rubber snakes on his couch. I picked it up but held it away from me, because even though they're rubber they're still snakes. “What are these for?”

Alex came out of his bedroom. “Dad and I ordered them the other night.”

“Why?” I peeked inside and noticed there were several different types of snakes before I dropped them back onto his couch.

“It's for the mockingbird.” Alex picked up the bag and tossed them further down the couch before he sat down.

“You mean the mockingbird that we were having so much fun listening to the other day?”

We'd been on the back porch while the mockingbird perched himself by the feeder and went through his repertoire. “He did a really good seagull.” I smiled as I thought about it.

“Yeah, and his blue jay was so perfect the real blue jays were chasing him all over the place!”

I had to laugh. “I know, it was pretty funny.” I stopped laughing, looked at the bag of snakes and felt confused. “You were liking the mockingbird when we were on the deck.” I shrugged my shoulders. “What happened?”

“Yeah, it was all fun and games until he decided to park himself in the holly tree outside my bedroom window the other night and do his entire repertoire again at three in the morning!” Alex sighed. “Oh, and this time he really liked his car alarm song!”

I had to laugh. “I'm sorry, but when we looked them up online it did say they'll imitate any noises in the area.” I actually thought it was pretty interesting that mockingbirds can learn close to two hundred sounds. From other song birds to squeaky gates, car alarms and even babies crying. “So what are the snakes for?”

“To hang in the holly tree and scare him away.” Alex pulled one out of the bag and tossed it to me.

“Don't do that!” I jumped out of the way and let it drop to the floor. “I've got bird feeders and bird houses all over the place and you want to hang snakes in the trees!”

“Just the holly tree by my bedroom window. Dad and I looked it up and it says smaller birds are afraid of snakes.” He picked the snake up off the floor and put it back in the bag.

“But that means you'll be scaring all the birds away!”

“The holly tree's in the front of the house.” Alex reasoned. “Your feeders and bird houses are in the back.”

“I still don't want you hanging snakes in the trees.”

Just then my husband Steven walked by. “Are you talking about the snakes I just bought?”

“Yeah,” I looked over at Steven. “I really don't want snakes draped over my holly bush limbs.”

“Hey, if it keeps the mockingbird from singing at three in the morning I say we hang snakes in the trees!”

“I'm with Dad!” Alex called.

“Oh, come on you two.” I looked over at Alex. “How many times has he woken you up in the middle of the night?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Just that one time.” he admitted.

“Are you two serious?” I looked at Steven then back at Alex. “He keeps you up for one night and you're ready to put snakes in the trees!”

“I never said anything about putting them up yet.” Alex said as he picked up the bag and began walking back into his bedroom while I followed him. “I just want to be prepared if he does it again.” Alex placed the bag next to his bed. “This way I can just open my window and toss a few right in the tree.”

I looked over at Steven and sighed.

“What?” Steven looked over at Alex, who shrugged his shoulders, then looked back at me. “It's the perfect solution!”

“You two better promise me that I'm never going to find one of them hiding anywhere in the house.”

Alex and Steven just smiled.