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Thursday, May 10, 2012
Marriage
YEARS.
My wife watches this every day. Red-tailed hawks having babies on a
ledge at the Franklin Institute. Three years now she's been watching
the chicks hatch, grow, and learn to fly. Mom and Dad are stupendously
dutiful, exchanging shifts on the nest and going out hunting for food
for the voracious youngsters. She calls the chicks "the Bobbles," and
keeps me updated. But this year is different. Dad got killed by a truck. Mom was all alone and in something of a panic. No time to mourn, only hunt. The Institute folks tried to fill in, sneaking food into the nest when Mom was away, but everyone watching knew the chicks were in trouble.
Then the New Guy showed up. He stepped seamlessly into the Dad role, bringing food and doing his turns of babysitting and hunting. Something about what marriage is.
Red-tailed hawks are monogamous. Even liberals might like this plot. He raises the ones who aren't his own. Will he be back next year? I'm thinking yes. Liberal TV casting would have him played by John Ritter. The rightwing action movie genre would make him Jason Statham. I'm pretty sure I see a shoulder holster under his right wing. What do you see?
In the meantime, the Bobbles are surviving. Let it continue so.
