Mert

Mert gripped the branch a bit tighter and turned towards Croakes and said “Did I ever tell you about the time I flew up past the end of the lake and kept going?” Croakes had been silently resting his eyes and cracked them open before slowly turning and saying “Oh, I’m sure I have, but shoot. All I got is time.” Mert clicked his beak in that strange jitter that let you know he was feeling good and proceeded to tell about flying on his wings…his wings…across the lake, beyond the swampy end where a creek with about a million bends leads to another large pond littered with Cypress trees and the best dark water that has magical healing power. The pond is filled with fish, and was a buffet for the Crow that knew how to get there.

Mert told first of a pond with a small cabin that he saw in his flight and how he decided to circle it for a closer look, as there was an ugly lime-green car by the pond. He explained that there were also two teenage boys fiddling with something by the water. Safely alit and perched atop a tall pine, Mert continued his surveillance of the unfolding scene as one of the boys tossed a package with wire attached out into the pond where it ka-plooped in, scattering droplets of water across a serene face of stillness now violated by rowdy voices and lime-green homely. They returned to the car and after a short conference the other teen raised the hood of the car, plucked the wire end off the ground and touched them to the battery in one swift, fluid move.

About a half second after the wires had sparked across the battery the water in the pond turned a curious bluish color before erupting in a boil that was accompanied by a strange, soul shaking thud and a geyser of water containing a school of panfish and a turtle rose and fell with an obsceneness that was both startling and delightful. The two teens first reeled then reveled in the Oppenheimeresque display of steam heat confined equally on all sides and forced to expand with great energy until the incredible weight of not only static force of the weight of water but the inertial force required to displace that weight equalized in a shower of water, aquatic life and satisfyingly stinky smoke that smelled of sulphur. The startled yet jubilant teens jumped in the car and made a rather hasty retreat but not before drifting around a pine tree while yelling “Whoooooo!”

Mert flapped off after the excitement had abated, but not before swooping down on his wings…his wings…and scooped up a few minnows thrown from the explosion and onto the shore. Flipping his head sideways he remarked as he swallowed “Sure ain’t Sonny Chapmans, but it is sufficient enough for me!” As he flapped along he began to chant “I’m gonna row row row my boat, down that old dreamy stream; and let my dreams fly out of my head oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah”