Photo by Andrew Haimerl on Unsplash
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper is adapting the “cow bird” technique for dealing with a lifetime collection of “stuff:” What he—the keeper does, is sneak an item of his saved junk into the living area of one of his kids, not unlike the cowbird laying its eggs in other birds’ nests; whereby the cowbird is relieved of any meaningful responsibility and is free to flit about and eat seeds; as the keeper is freed to continue shopping at St.Vinny’s for more junk.
The system was tested recently when the keeper faced the dilemma of what to do with a box of very old reporter notebooks filled with the scribbling from various travels and work assignments. He could not bring himself to throw the notebooks away, so he and Phyllis traveled up to Mike’s abode on the Wisconsin River, and the keeper did a sly handoff by suggesting that Mike might find some of the notebooks interesting.
After a relaxing drink or two on the sunny riverbank and demanding to be fed one of Mike’s steak sandwiches, Phyllis and the keeper headed for home, minus that box of old notebooks, and with the keeper planning more visits with Mike and his siblings–with junk in hand.
