I miss the mourning dove that cooed outside my window.
He
was so annoying. I looked up for him when I was outside,
but I couldn’t see
him. My eyes made a bird sitting on a wire
nervous.I’ve heard that when birds watch people swallow,
it makes
them think of being eaten, and tells them to flee
or keep their distance. Just before I woke, I was dreaming
of a girl who lingered in
a classroom until I was leaving.
The class was full of teenage girls and boys,
me among them.
It was near our graduation, but the teacher good-naturedly kept
us working. I arrived late in the day, early in the afternoon,
and was
surprised to have to do any work at all.
It was as if I had never noticed how attractive my
classmates were,
and I wondered if they only dated older guys. Then this girl
came
out the same door I did at the same time. It seemed she intended
it,
but she gave me no signal except the casual friendliness she had always
shown.
Male mourning doves make their distinctive cooing sound –
loud and persistent,
almost like owls – to attract females. I guess the one
outside
my window found what he was looking for.
