Like Jaws 4, Except Without The Shark

Last night I called Aunt Barbara to tell her our mockingbird story. Aunt Barbara loves cats the way I do and she loves cat stories. She shared her own mockingbird story with me.

Aunt Barbara and Uncle Jimmy have always had cats. Needy, homeless, "about to have kittens" cats just show up at their doorstep. They take them in and care for them. Most of the time, the mama cat and kittens end up living with them permanently. OK- I am getting a mental picture here- must clarify- Aunt Barbara is not a cat lady. All these mama cats don't show up all at one time, just in shifts, sort of.

My aunt also has been known to give her cats some rather odd names, like a girl cat named "Jack" and a cat they now own named "Monkey." If you could hear about the visit to the vet's office, you would understand why he is named Monkey. Let's just say, Uncle Jimmy nearly paid for a rather expensive microscope.

The past few weeks, their cats have been taunted, tortured rather, by a mama mockingbird. Monkey was just minding his own business, lounging on the truck and playing with the windshield wipers, when a mama mockingbird swooped down in an F-15 combat maneuver, bombed Monkey with his birdie beak, and flew back up into the trees.

Mama bird's combat headquarters have been located- a small nest of hatchlings in the oak tree. Aunt Barbara hopes the little hatchlings learn to fly very soon so that the mama and babies will move their little mockingbird squadron to someone else's yard, and leave her cats alone.

This all being said, I promised ya'll a story about my Granny. When I wrote yesterday about my own mockingbird moment, I had no idea that my aunt was experiencing hers as well. Ya'll don't understand. I am beginning to get a little paranoid.

One Spring a mockingbird stalked my Granny. Remember the scene from Forget Paris when the pigeon landed in Debra Winger's hair? Well, that didn't happen.

No, every time Granny went outside to water her flowers or just take a stroll in the yard, a mockingbird would complete the same F-15 type combat maneuver and dive for her head. The bird only did this to Granny, not to Papa or anyone else, because Granny had the most beautiful, soft, weekly washed and styled white hair! If Granny wore a bonnet outside, the bird would leave her alone. All we could figure is that the bird was trying to nest in Granny's hair.

SO, you can see why I am starting to get a bit paranoid. It seems mockingbirds are following our family. I am not quite sure why. But I am seriously considering the purchase of a bonnet.

Do you think Wal-mart has them?