We’ve taken an almost proprietary interest in the little moorhen family that would appear and peck their way through the grass and water’s edge around our pond. Mom, Dad, and six tiny chicks, little black ping-pong balls. Their home base is probably the stand of grasses and water plants next to our bridge.
While they’re good swimmers –
sometimes diving under water to get to food – in spite of not having webbed
feet (Thank you, Wikipedia), and can fly, I most often see the parents running
hell-bent-for-leather across the ground as though they’re about to miss a bus.
So, there we were, My Guy and I, late
one afternoon sitting fat and happy on the lanai, margaritas in hand, when he looks
across to the bridge and says, “The otter’s after the moorhens!”
Well, we’re so invested in these
little balls of fluff that when they appear near our unit, we always count to
make sure all six babies are there. So, fueled by righteousness and alcohol, I
leapt up, found my flip-flops and walked at top speed (no one wants to see me
run) around two buildings, hoping to get to the scene of the crime in time.
I rounded the second building and a
second-floor couple standing on their lanai called down, “He’s after the chicks!”
I clapped my hands loudly and a
gray-black form shot out from the hedge next to the building and dashed back into
the water. Let me tell you, he was huge, even bigger than our last sixteen pound house cat, what with that big thick tail.
I marched back home, victorious. I
hoped.
That night, though, until the small
hours of the morning, I could hear a bird calling with the regularity of an
alarm that wouldn’t quit. I hoped it wasn’t the mom or dad calling for a
missing chick.
Ah well, I told myself, it’s the cycle
of life. These are wild animals who live precarious lives. And so on and so
forth. Sigh.
And then, frabulous joy and excitement!! I looked outside today and saw both parents with all six chicks scrabbling away right outside our screens.
We’re leaving here on Friday and none
too soon. I want the happy end of this story to hold.
