the continuing adventures of the captain

well luke went camping for a week & captain johnny decided to take off as well. giving us all mild cases of heart attack & strokes & impending doom in general.

that precious bird. well on canada day he hid, swinging silently on the door chain so that we locked him in between the two doors. and then when we came home as dusk, all barbequed out, he shot out of the door and burst into the sky, swinging round in long loops, chirping a song of freedom or of fright. we walked with him, from tree to tree, calling & cajoling him with bird cage and favorite treat in hand.

not only is a a frightening thing to have a pet escape and not want to come home - or understand that he needs to come home - but also we had the fear of luke in our hearts... returning from camp and bursting into tears at the news of his beloved bird's disappearence. and a bird isn't like a dog, or cat, that at least is grounded. johnny had all the skies to flee as well.

was it an hour or more later that we gave up, torn apart by mosquitoes and disappointment, leaving johnny in the neighbor's tallest tree? was it all night that we lay awake, praying for the safekeeping of the world's most annoying, chirpy, and viciously nippy budgie? the things we do for love.

our neighbor tried to cheer us up. 'when i was eight or nine,' she said, 'i lost my budgie for a year. then one day i found out it had flown across the river - a mile or so - and was happily residing at the Pridhams. so they returned him to me, that whole year later...'

could the same happen to johnny?

two days later, a lady called us. 'i was at a party in northport,' she said. 'and we saw something fly by the window. a bird landed on the barbeque, and walked right up the hostess' arm. he was starving so she brought him in and fed him a tomato on the counter. someone had a bird cage at home, so they put him in the cage and fed him some bread. and then i went home and was talking to a friend... and they said they saw you outside with a bird cage the other night, so i thought i'd give you a call.' and she gave us the lady's number. and the next day we picked up johnny, and brought him home.

he is not sorry at all that he went.