97 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
97 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
s$
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$$ .d""b. .d""b. HOE E'ZINE #1090
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[-- $$""b. $$ $$ $$ $$ -- ------------------------------------------- --]
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$$ $$ $$ $$ $$ss$$ "Tweet-tweet The Sparrow"
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$$ $$ $$ $$ $$ by Trilobyte
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$$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ 06/07/00
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[-- $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ -- ------------------------------------------- --]
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$$ $$ "TssT" "TssT"
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near a parking lot for an office building in the center of town,
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tweet-tweet the sparrow fell from a tree like a bird on a leaf and landed
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on a few blades of grass. he looked at them but wasn't too interested so
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he tried to stand up but it didn't work; his attempts were met with sharp
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pains in his legs. having no choice, he laid there on his side and stared
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at the plain blades of grass and the dirt underneath. there were no worms.
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tweet-toot the pigeon sauntered by and noticed how tweet-tweet the
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sparrow wasn't moving.
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"what's wrong, tweet-tweet?" tweet-toot asked, "are you stuck?"
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"i was in the tree but now i'm down here and i can't go anywhere
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else," tweet-tweet explained.
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tweet-toot, being an old pigeon and having much experience in the
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world, understood the problem.
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"you are injured! some part of you is broken," he told tweet-tweet.
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tweet-tweet looked disappointed. "how can i get fixed?"
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"you need to go to an immediate-care clinic, tweet-tweet. maybe
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even to the emergency room at the hospital."
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tweet-tweet became excited. "yes! take me! please! i can't stay
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here forever, i have to go. i think i saw an apple over there!"
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tweet-toot shook his head. "i'm sorry, tweet-tweet, i don't think
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you'll be able to get that apple. see, hospitals cost money, and we birds
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simply haven't got the capital assets to visit immediate-care clinics or
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hospitals."
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"what? so i can't get fixed?" tweet-tweet asked, as he began to
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cry. "probably not," tweet-toot replied. "but i'll get hark-tweet th
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bluejay, he has been in a person's house before. maybe he'll have an
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idea."
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tweet-toot the pigeon left, and came back fifteen minutes later with
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hark-tweet the bluejay's cousin, toot-taweet. together, they assessed the
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situation. they nodded to each other a few times and then fetched some
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worms for tweet-tweet, which he ate appreciatively.
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soon, a few dozen birds from around the area began to help
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tweet-tweet by bringing him food. if he was awake, they would talk to him
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and amuse him as best they could. if he was sleeping (which he did a lot)
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they would leave the food by his head, for him to have when he woke up.
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hark-tweet the bluejay, who had been in a person's house before, was
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pretty good at communicating with people. but he was away for a few weeks,
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visiting some friends by the river (the river is neat, you can swoop down
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and catch things). his cousin, toot-taweet the bluejay, and tweet-toot,
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the pigeon, tried to establish a charitable fund to raise money for
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tweet-tweet the sparrow's recovery, but no human people seemed to pay
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attention to them.
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toot-pa-pa-weet the cardinal wanted to help, though, and found a dime
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in a parking lot and gave it to hark-tweet the bluejay.
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"you can put this in the fund for tweet-tweet," he said. "how is he
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doing?"
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"he is still just laying there," hark-tweet replied. "as soon as he
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gets up, i think we're going over to the river to celebrate!"
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"i'm sure he'll like that," toot-pa-pa-weet smiled. "i'll see you
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then?"
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"sure thing."
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though he wouldn't admit it, hark-tweet the bluejay had already lost
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hope.
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after toot-pa-pa-weet left, hark-tweet laid his dime next to
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tweet-tweet to raise his spirits. tweet-tweet's eyes showed a faint
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glimmer of satisfaction, and then went blank.
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six days after falling from the tree, tweet-tweet the sparrow died a
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silent death of boredom. his body laid there for two weeks, until howard
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the custodian-person picked it up with a shovel and threw it in a nearby
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dumpster.
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in tweet-tweet's honor, nearby birds kept a vow of silence for three
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weeks.
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[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]
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[ (c) HOE E'ZINE -- http://www.hoe.nu HOE #1090, BY TRILOBYTE - 6/07/00 ]
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