WILD CANARY

WHAT IT IS

One eye was completely missing, lost in a disagreement with a German Sheppard who thought he owned the railyards down by the waterfront. Half of his tail was gone after realizing he was losing the fight but wasn’t fast enough to make it across the tracks in front of an oncoming freight train. Most of the fur on the left side of his face had been ripped off because of the constant fighting with his brother.

His brother on the other hand was in much worse shape. Somehow getting his front leg caught in the spokes of a motorcycle caused his tripedalism. Most days he couldn’t see because his eyes were covered in a thick, fowl smelling substance that oozed down his face creating yellow pustules along his cheeks. His one good ear had been chewed up by a rabid fox, his other ear just a lump protruding from his head. But still Kitty-kitty and Kitty-cat were somewhat taken care of by Tiny Leblanc and soon they would get the opportunity to show their gratitude for everything Tiny did for them.

Kitty-kitty sized up Jaclyn before pouncing from the top of a bookcase, landing directly on her face, embedding the claws from his one good paw into her forehead and sinking his rotting teeth into the bridge of her nose. A startled Jaclyn recoiled backward, fired a shot from her revolver that hit and opened the door of a bird cage at the far end of the room. Tiny’s “wild canary” seized the opportunity and flew toward the open front door just as Kitty-cat was rounding the corner from the kitchen ready to take on the other officers. Kitty-cat’s long jump over Tiny landed him squarely on the groin of one officer, while the second officer awkwardly batted the air as the wild canary fluttered impatiently to get outside. The resulting pandemonium saw two policemen, one bird and one determined cat tumble out of the building and onto the sidewalk. Jaclyn meanwhile stumbled to the shower and hosed Kitty-kitty off her face.

Tiny was indebted to many characters in New Orleans and as he walked toward the waterfront he added Kitty-cat and Kitty-kitty to the list. Once a safe distance from the fracas, Tiny stopped under a streetlight, lit a cigarette and ruminated about the evening’s events. As he thought warmly about his two grotesque companions, a white moth leisurely drifted from atop the streetlight and landed in front of him. Tiny looked intently at the moth, the moth’s large eyes starred back and the visual standoff went on until Tiny fell asleep, and when he woke the moth was gone.

WHAT IT IS NOT

Cathy Jennings loaded up the devilishly cute black squirrel into the back of her car and drove home to pickup a goldfinch she was nursing back to health. The goldfinch had been inadvertently involved in a mid air collision with a duck which was working with local police trying to track down a couple of fugitives. The Conservation Officer for the area asked Jennings to rehabilitate the bird and of course she was glad to do so.

The day had come for the bird’s release, so sticking with the old adage…the one not mentioned here…Jennings gathered up the bird and squirrel for the release back into the wild. When back at the lab, Jennings overheard the loud and obnoxious Exotic Creatures agents boast about the raid near the Red Squirrel road north of Temagami so this was where she decided to release her charges. It was a lovely day for a freedom gesture: the goldfinch wasted no time flying up into a red pine and the black squirrel hopped away quickly, turning back briefly in what Jennings thought surely was a thank you. She was now a sad lady; fired from her job, her little black squirrel acquaintance somewhere in the forest, her goldfinch flying merciless free, and she stuck with not much to do. She turned to go back to her car when her cell rang…it was Samantha Gallant…could she come to New Orleans?