Bye Bye Birdie

I'm always amazed at the speed of birds. When I drive near a bird, it always seems to wait longer than is safe to fly away, but manages to dodge me anyway. Today was different. While driving some students home from camp, a bird flew straight into my windshield. It didn't go much further. It became instantly limp and lodged itself (the verbs are being placed on a deceased bird) between my hood and my windshield. But it wasn't stationary. Lifeless yes, but stationary, no.

The wind caught hold of birdie (can you give a "pet" name to a dead animal?). It moved it towards the side of the windshield/hood much like the aerodynamics would dictate. Fortunately for the 16 year old girl in my passenger seat, it moved the bird her way. The next most interesting fact might be that the head of our friend had managed to lodge under the hood, while the body remained trapped in the wind above the hood, thus leaving the bird stuck in the corner, waiting for someone to remove it.

"I need to go to a bathroom" was immediately yelled by the 15 year old in the back seat. I knew that once I stopped it would be my job to remove my new friend from my car. What I didn't expect was to be locked out of my car in fear that I might play some kind of joke, or throw the carcass at the high school girls. They had thought their defense strategy out well, though unnecessarily. Wrapped in enough paper towels, the bird might as well have been a box elder bug. I no longer had attatchment to my 2 minute friend. I was merely thankful that he did not damage my windshield in the process. Thank you birdie, for having a soft enough head to not crack my glass. Thank you Super America for providing me with paper towels. Most importantly, thank you Ford, for the car ride entertainment experience that was my life today.