Lovebirds

DATING RITUALS

An episode sure to ruffle your feathers

I storked out an outdoor table along the rail. Phoebe was late for our first date, a myna offense which I forgave as soon as she showed up in a teal blazer. Toucan play at that game, I thought, as I subtly revealed mango socks above my martins.

She seemed eagle to get to know me, and our conversation was lively and pheasant. After we’d finched eating, an actual pigeon alighted on the nearby sidewalk.

“An auspicious sign,” I said.

“How so?”

“Care to vulture a guess?”

Her eyebrows clenched. She shook her head and lifted her shoulders in puzzlement.

“I’ll give you a hint,” I said. “I’m still miffed at that dodo who went puffin by me on the bike trail without saying on your left.”

“I’ll bet.”

“You mean, owl bet?”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“It means it’s bird pun night. From heron out, everything we say has to weaver in a reference to one of our feathered friends.”

She didn’t come up with an immediate response, so I pipered up again. “Giving an audubon warning before passing is one of the cardinal rules of the trail.”

She pushed her chair back. “I’m going to duck into the restroom.”

Yes. Her first one. Game on. “Don’t forget to thrush.”

Her nose wrinkled in mock disgust. Fair enough, it wasn’t one of my best.

A couple more pigeons joined the first one, and I watched them while waiting for Phoebe to return. When she did, she gripped the back of her chair for a moment before gingerly sitting back down.

She gave me a sincere look. “I should probably tell you the whole pun thing doesn’t tern me on.”

Now we were getting somewhere. “I appreciate your condor. But you’re really starling to get the hang of it,” I countered.

She frowned, pretending to be irritated. “Are you some kind of a loon?”

Two in a row, excellent. “Just doing it for a lark.”

Related posts:

The world always has high regard for people who have the esoteric skill of being able to predict the future. In the business world, luck favors sales professionals who can prophesize the yearly sales…

A supply chain is a network between a company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer according to Investopedia. Which also means, the way a producer…

He heard those words. Those words. They shot through his head like a comet. Like a burning, fiery comet. She had said them. Those words. Sally Fuller had said those words. "I never want to see you…