Roadrunner, Road Kill

I found that while grieving for Buddy Boutts, it was helpful to keep busy, and as part of my campaign to be occupied at all times, I did a lot of exercising. I didn’t just GO to the gym, I WALKED to the gym. Unfortunately, on the second day of this fitness marathon, I turned the corner and came upon the body of one of our neighborhood’s roadrunners. If you don’t live in this part of the country, you don’t know how pleasant it is to share your space with these handsome, industrious creatures. Their distinctive gait makes them look as if they are always in a hurry. I love to see them dashing along with a lizard draped in their beak. They sun themselves on the big landscaping rocks, bobbing and flicking their generous tails in a rich, but incomprehensible language only other roadies can fathom.  Their feathers look as if they are etched, so perfect, so chiseled out of desert colors.

 

Somebody ran my feathered neighbor down. The bird was lying at an intersection, a place where a driver should have been moving very, very slowly to honor the stop sign and round the corner safely. From the look of things, I think this driver accelerated to hit the bird. Gives a whole new meaning to the term, bad driver. May the curse of the roadrunner be on you, mister. May you run around in circles, never finding any rest. May all your meals taste like the desert sand. May your tongue feel like the skin of a lizard. May a demolition derby truck with those really enormous tires roll over you until your innards go splat.

 

I tried to condole with the roadrunner that lives near my house. I’ve been feeding him Vienna sausages because I understand he is a carnivore. He likes the way they roll down the driveway. Gives him a fitting chase, so he can feel the thrill of victory. When he gets one, he looks like he’s smoking a stogie. When I told him how sorry I was for his loss, he studied me for a moment and then gave me a slow tail flick. I think he understood and will pass along my sympathies to the others of his kind who grace our community.