07 Interlude

Interlude    II

     Seemingly invincible incompatibilities can have a hidden bond which allows them to thrive in each other’s midst. But matters can get terribly complicated even with the best intentions made by all. Hence, the gathering of animals on Dominica who are seriously considering a humanitarian act, pray tell. Perhaps, if animals were more self-serving they would consider an animatarian act as opposed to humanitarian act. But for the story to have merit these animals must reach sacrificially to help humans who no longer see themselves as close to the edge of extinction. A harbinger could have been a few loose ceramic tiles on the belly of the returning astronauts space vehicle in 2003 in which all seven astronauts were killed. 
      Could we all burn up through our amazing but fateful speed of humanity hurtling through time and overheating the entire planet? If nature has a pace are we exceeding it?

Consilience    7

     We all looked up at the title of this section wondering what in the hell was consilience. Animals have a problem with words anyway and this word is

too steep for most of us. As it turns out consilience was chosen by the editor because it is derived from ‘jumping together of knowledge’.  On further investigation the group found that Edward O Wilson's book, Consilience, was the editors favorite book.  The chosen animals are going to have to jump into this project without reservation with the
emphasis on together.

     As the group of animals formed a circle each realized that there was a peculiar energy among them. What it was, remains a mystery, but what it could accomplish was emerging as primitive intuition. To put it another way they were moving in concert but had no inkling of how this could be happening. It was not passed from generation to generation as a tribal circle but as a much more primitive circle of million years past minnows migrating through dangerous waters. Just as little children all over the world learn to speak from the mysterious depths of the consciousness of past generations, our Dominican animals were tapping the consciousness of millions of years of survival knowledge from minnows, no less.

     Cackle the grackle suddenly dropped into the circle talking a mile-a-minute,

“The Governor of California just signed into a law a bill that makes cow farting virtually illegal. Because global warming is created by methane (farts) gas then cows are the worst farts of all. It’s a crime, it’s a blooming crime. Don’t they realize that humans are eating too many hamburgers which come from cows. Cows are innocent.”   Cackle squawked, “There are from 1 to 2 billion cows on this earth and they all make tons of methane gas. And that’s a fact Jack.”

     “Here, here,” echoed everyone in the group. And now on to helping pitiful human beings. They know not what hamburgers have wrought.

     Coqui, the frog sang, “I’m great at jumping but not so sure about the knowledge part.”

06 Courage

Courage. 6

     “Did you see that?”, sang Coqui, the frog. “I saw something in that bearded tree move very slowly but in a strange way. I don’t know if I have the courage to hang out with a bunch of weirdos like you all day.”  

     “Wait just a minute and have a little patience. I am flitting about so fast I can’t see much that moves slowly.” Chirped Hummy. Then, while hovering in one place, Hummy saw what he believed had become extinct on Dominica; a three-toed sloth as it became faintly visible!

     “I had hopes of remaining unseen until I could understand your crazy conversation,” crooned Mira the sloth. “But I suspect that it will take a bit longer.

 I am always late and I never hurry anything; but you’ll are certainly in a dither. Bring me up to date.”

     BillyG offered this,“ I have been chewing on this cud for over an hour and it remains only partly digestible. But the gist of it is as follows….. We have found each other accidently and have begun to talk about how humans or people are off-the-chain all over the world. The indigestible part is can we as mere animals do anything to remedy the situation?”

     “Wow”, crooned Mira, ’You have to have a lot of courage to help people. I hear that humans have professionals to help and many of them soon drop out, drink, or go off-the-chain themselves. But it will take me a week to find another tree so I will give you that much of my time.”

    Gathering by chance on a plantation near Soufriere on a cool April morning they circled around each other.  

      Cesar, the iguana, rustled the leaves saying, " I am just listening today".  

      Paula, a Sisserou parrot, perched near Milvus and took a plug out of the mango saying, " I thought I wanted a cracker but this is even better." 

      Free, the Dominican hairstreak, fluttered over the gathering circle and was heard to say faintly but like unto distant thunder, " "They try to hear with their ears what their hearts already know."

      Hummy and several others silently wondered, What is life all about? 

    

05 Undaunted

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Undaunted.5

    

“What is this world coming to? How can we, as mere animals, do anything about human behavior?” sang Coqui the frog. “I can make it rain and I can sing a song heard across the valley but people are a bit daunting.”

     A shadow cast from a black kite startled the small group below. But looking up they realized that it was Milvus. The kite is a beautiful bird with a graceful shape and a swallow tail. This was a good and a special sign. Hummy, BillyG, and Coqui felt a soothing relief.  As if synchronized in thought and feeling they believed a harbinger of hope appeared and was flying overhead.

      Milvus swooped down to a low branch of a mango tree and began to munch a nearby ripe fruit. Hummy saw this and was amazed but was comforted by his luncheon choice.

      Hummy was thinking, Is this real or surreal? Will I be safe from kites now? Did God hit the reset button? Do we have a shot at interrupting the human’s self-destruct path? This is going to take unprecedented animal synergy. I hope Milvus has something tucked under his wing. And he flapped and flittered about; his wings beating furiously.

     In a similar fashion BilllyG quietly wondered, Is something amiss? I have never seen a black kite this close and slurping down a mango besides. This was a sign of great import, but what?

     Coqui, similarly puzzled, but grateful, wondered, Am I not on this kite’s diet anymore? The overhead shadow has always spooked me.

     Between bites of mango, Milvus finally spoke, “You might not know about this but I am hawk-eyed and pick up nuances in your movements. Also, I have some thermal sensing which allowed me to pick up your overheated bodies. You are very excited  about something. May I ask about what?”

     Amazed, but reassured, like an opera trio they all blurted out at once, “ It’s the humans. They are going bananas all over the world, but maybe going ape-shit would be more accurate.”

04 The Conversation

The Conversation..4

     Hummy flew along the eastern side of the mountains of Dominica because he could catch the updraft from the prevailing wind coming off the Atlantic Ocean. It was so easy to get caught up in the wind that he almost forgot the blink-burp jolt that was sending him back into conversation with BillyG. Hummy thought, “Was it strange to have a deep talk with a goat?” If the birds in my neighborhood find out that I am have a conversation with a goat they will laugh right off their perches. And worse yet, I have overheard humans talking about bird-brains. I don’t know what they mean and it makes me nervous.”

     As he looked down he saw BillyG just where he left him and knew without the slightest doubt that this mission was beyond comprehension but soon to be revealed.

     “Hi Billy G. Do you remember me?” As Hummy hovered  above him.

     “ Sure. What took you so long? This grass is getting so thick I can hardly see you.”

     “ I don’t know what I can do about the grass but I do want to ask a question”, Hummy tweeted.

     BillyG replied, “ Did  you tweet that?; Now that humans are tweeting I can’t tell the birds from the humans.”

     Hovering though a bit shocked, Hummy retweeted, “You are thinking about the same thing I am thinking about. Humans are off the chain; over the wall or have just lost it.”

     BillyG bleated, “You can say or tweet that again. Humans or people, whatever you may call them, are invading the sanctity of our consciousness. Is there anything left unsullied? People have been able to trust us goats for remaining stable for thousands of years and even though there are over 400,000,000 of us on this planet we don’t have a standing army, only fight over an occasional girl-goat, have not made the first bomb, and now they are going for another round of mayhem.”

     “what do you mean by another round of mayhem? ” Chirped Hummy.

     “Well”, whispered BiilyG,  “Not here in Dominica, pray tell, but in some other countries they are going into crowds and blowing themselves up and running up and down the street shooting each other with guns.”

     “ I can’t believe it!! Now I see what the book-cover I saw this morning meant.

The World in Disarray…………we as birds and animals must hold onto our consciousness especially since human consciousness appear to be in jeopardy. Thank God for the simplicity of plants and animals and pity the silly complexity of humans.” Sighed Hummy.

           “We can’t give up on them just because they are humans.” Said BillyG.

     “ Yes, I know that people are just babes-in-the-woods compared to us. We as animals have been on this planet for millions of years.  I think I know a way to help them but it will require great effort and more animals.”, replied Hummy.

      From just out of sight but not out of earshot sang Coqui the Frog, “I’m in. They (humans) really do need help.”