Days of Chickadees and Bumblebees

"Where's Grandma? Has anyone seen Grandma? Charco, didn't you go with her to the briar patch?"

     "Mom, I was with her, but then she left with Chango. They went toward the meadow."

     Chatter-happy Clara spouted, "Charco, Grandma was your responsibility! You know Chango is so hyper that he has a nervous breakdown each time he's in the face of danger!"

     "Chango said that there were many seeds ripe for the picking, and Grandma agreed that it seemed safe to get a few, then they could hastily return to the protection of the briars," Charco defended himself.

     Out of breath, and his little heart beating much faster

than normal, Chango skidded to a halt at the gathering of his family members in the barnyard. Before the dust could settle, he sputtered something about Blackie, and Grandma, and grass seeds, and dark shapes swooping out of nowhere, and a swooshing, and feathers flying in all directions, and screeching, and a kidnapping.