Status Updates From Family Lore

“Sometimes, a bird would hide in a branch near the top of the tree, and a second bird would flit near it. Partners, they seemed. The first bird would take off again, and the second bird, after a moment or two, would take off with its mate, or its nonmate, or whatever one calls a creature that pulls your gravity until you succumb.”

“The tree was beloved by birds. None of the beautiful variety; these birds did not flutter and sing. They lived unknowing they weren’t of the most startling plumage and uncaring that it was so.” (+)