Chapter 8

“What’s ampfroposize?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. What?”

“Someone said that Apron Lady was ampfroposizing the sparrows. Have I been ampfroposized?”

“Oh man, Eon, you’re killin' me. Let’s go ask Mr. Head Spa and Grace.”

“Mr Head Spa! Grace! Are you awake!”

“Good God Ra, what is it? We’re right here by the millet spray.”

“Eon wants to know if he has been amfosized. And I want to know if I have been amfosized too”

“What in the world are you guys talking about?

“Sigh… Someone said that Apron Lady was amfosizing us sparrows”

“No, Ra, “AMPFROPIZING’”

“Hee! Hee! Ion has got a great one Spa! Never a dull word out of your little beak Ion.”

“ What is it Grace? I was just using the pumice stone to spruce up my own beak.”

“Ion wants to know if Apron Lady has been anthropomorphizing him. Well, and us too for that matter.”

“Yeah! That’s the word! Shoot! It’s Anthrowpomosizing!”

“Spa?”

“Grace you go ahead and tell them about this oddity of the human mind”

“Alright. Well, it’s when humans act like animals are like humans. They think that we’re a lot like them except for the feathers and fur and whatnot”

“Okay….and so, we’re actually not like them?”

“We may be in some ways and not be in some other ways. But really, neither humans nor animals know for sure.”

“But the humans eat and sleep and poop?”

“Heck yeah!”

“But they don’t have feathers and fur?”

“Right. They have hair.”

“Yeah hair! I hate hair. A piece of it got wrapped around my leg once. A lady had to unravel it.”

“Dangerous stuff Ra!”

“You can say that again!”

“Okay. Dangerous stuff Ra!”

“Oh not literally Eon! You’re the funny guy NOW I see….well, you’re learning from the best. ME!”

“ Okay okay guys, do you want to talk about this or what?”

“Yeah, yeah Grace. So, and don’t forget that they are WAAAAAAAY bigger than us. Right Grace.

“Right Ra. Way bigger.”

“And they live in cages too like us. Only bigger ones. Hey! We live in a cage inside a cage!

“HAHA! We do Ion!”

“So I can’t tell if we are more alike or more different than humans.”

“Yeah, this is a gnarly question. Spa, care to weigh in?”

“Ugh. Let’s keep thinking and talking about it. Mostly, as long as they keep this delicious food coming and keep mentioning the word 'release', I’m not sure I care much if we are like them or not.”

“Hmmmm. Release. The thing I’m not ready for. But I am ALWAYS ready for worms! And hey, I know we sparrows are different than worms because worms don’t eat sparrows, but sparrows do eat worms. That’s a big difference.”

“Sure is. I hope there is nothing out there that would want to eat us. Mr. Spa?”

“That’s way more than enough talk for today Ra and Ion. Go eat and nap and jump around and don’t forget to tell Tamara how pretty she is.”

“K!!!!”