The Peacock 1288

 " that's good news.  He should be out of the way then.  How are you for reading materials."

"The Stieg Larsson books are great but a little variety might be good.  Plus, I'm more than halfway through Dragon Tattoo.  I do nothing but read or  watch TV.  But I'd much rather read.

"How about CS Lewis' Space Trilogy.  I just saw it on my father's bookshelves."

"Science fiction?"

"Yes."

"Sure."

"I'll phone you just before I leave..."

We are near the end of the trail.  "That was Erik.  Lindstrom was in the news.  Apparently he is flying right now back to Sweden where he will be handed over to the authorities."

"Let's hope for good", sys Jeffrey.

"We're not done with the Swedish demigod yet ", says Carl.

"How can you be sure."

"I can be very sure", he says-  We re lmost back at the house.

The Peacock 1287

 A text from Erik  "Where the fuck are you"

I mark his numbers.  "Where are you", he says.

"I'm guiding my friends on a small hike in Pacific Spirit Park."

"I have been waiting for you to come all morning."

"Oh sorry  I forgot.  So much going on."

"Can you come today?"

"I think so,  Jesús is driving down with my car and he should be here in an hour.  Do you need some more chocolate?"

"That would be nice"

"how about your phone?"

"My sister is leaving me alone so far.  They just put Lindstrom on a plane to Stockholm. I just saw something on CTV news."

"oh my god, what did it say."

"Just that he was caught illegally entering the country and trying to break into a house, presumably yours, and they caught him okay and now he's on his way home to Swedish hospitality..."

The Peacock 1287

 "You must be very well-read", says Jeffrey.

"I was reading Shakespeare and Chaucer when I was ten."  He doesn't appear to be affecting modesty.  He really doesn't seem to care.  "so, anyway, tell me please about this roadrunner cartoon."

"There's no dialogue, just music and sound effects", say I.  And each episode is about this coyote chasing after the roadrunner, using all kinds of weird inventions, like rocket shoes and special dynamite, but he never catches the roadrunner, who says nothing but beep-beep.

"Hence, Beep-beep yer ass", says François.

"Exactly"

"Is there such a bird as a roadrunner?"

"Here I just found it", says Carl, offering his phone to pass around.  It is a very plain looking bird, brown or black and white stripes with a crest and rather long legs.

Carl takes back his phone and reads out loud "It is a member of the cuckoo family of birds, but unlike the European and other species of cuckoo, roadrunners are not brood parasites.  They build there own nests and lay and incubate their eggs and raise their own young."

"So the roadrunner is a cuckoo but it raises its own chicks", says George.  "Very interesting."

"Here it says", says Carl, "That many species of cuckoo lay their eggs in other birds nests for them to incubate and raise their young for them."

"Do they get paid?"

The Peacock 1286

"You mean you've never seen the Roadrunner?" says Carl, incredulous "is that a type of four wheel drive?" "No!" "It's a famous cartoon", says Jeffrey. "Warner Brothers. a spinoff from Bugs Bunny." "Bugs Bunny?" "Didn't you watch cartoons as a kid?" says George. "No. We didn't have a TV." "What did you do for entertainment?" "Mom and I mostly read together. We were always bringing books from the library." "You never watched TV, or cartoons?" say I, Not knowing whether from admiration or pity. "Mom didn't want TV. Even though the Gagnon's several times offered one, she always turned it down. she taught me instead to appreciate literature", says Francois, solemnly.

The Peacock 1284

 Crossing Chancellor is a piece of cake.  It is broad with a green boulevard in the middle, flanked on both sides by forest.  We could be almost anywhere in rural BC, and the traffic is always very sparse.  

Say I to Francois, "We were discussing the various steps the coyote would have to take in order to eat the roadrunner if he ever caught hin.  Starting of course with how he would kill him, and ending with how he would cook him.  Carl was recommending that he be served with a turnip and chestnut stuffing.  Carl, do you actually have a recipe for that?"

"The idea just popped into my head."

"It actually doesn't sound like a bad idea", says George.  "If they were pureed together, the chestnuts would reduce the bitterness of the turnips.  I might even give it a try sometime.

"but first you have to catch and kill a roadrunner, since i don't think we're going to find them in No Frills", says Jeffrey.

"Not even in Urban Faire", says George.

"I really have no idea what you guys are talking about", says Francois as we enter again the trail we came out on...

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The Peacock 1283

 "And after that the coyote eats the roadrunner", says Jeffrey.

"First he has to cook him", says George.  "How do you think the coyote would cook his roadrunner?"

"Roasted in the oven," says Carl, "with turnip and chestnut stuffing.

"He would have to pluck him first", say I.

"Before that he would have to kill the roadrunner", says George.

"How do you think he would kill him", says Jeffrey.

"He'd first ring his neck then chop off his head", says George.

"Chop off whose head?" says Francois, leaving the outhouse.

"Long story", says Carl.  "Are we ready to go back?" he asks me...

The Peacock 1282

 "She likes you. She couldn't keep her eyes off you at breakfast yesterday.  I thought she was going to eat you after the muffins she brought over."

"So coyotes are dangerous", says Jeffrey, changing the subject.

"No, not especially", say I , "But better to respect their space and keep distant from them."

"They're actually very smart", says George.  We have come back out to Chancellor, and Francois is pausing near the door to the outhouse on our left..  He goes in and closes the door.

"I'm not sure about that", say I, "If the cartoon is any indication."

"Oh you mean the Roadrunner", says George.

"Never could catch the bird no matter how hard he tried", says Carl.

"What do you think would have happened had the coyote caught the roadrunner", sys Jeffrey.

"I don't know", say I, "But when Kenny lived with us he had a poster on his bedroom wall of the coyote grabbing the roadrunner by the neck with one hand, and his other hand closed in a fist ready to plough him one, and saying, "Beep-beep yer ass"...