I ask them what they would like to do. “We wanna go look at the birds at the sanctuary!” they yell. They have been practicing this response, I can tell. I pile them all into the station wagon, grab my laptop and the blue-tooth internet thingy and we head for the bird sanctuary. The traffic is horrendous. I thought everyone stayed home on Sundays, like me.

As soon as we arrive at the sanctuary, the kids, who have obviously know their way around from previous visits, run to one of the rangers and ask him to take them out. He leads us to a tractor that has a trailer with seats hooked to the back and off we go to see birds. He talks, they listen and I quickly get bored. I move to a back seat where the kids can’t see what I’m doing, open the laptop and check into an online casino. I feel a little guilty, but so what? I am entitled to a bit of fun as well and the birds…? They are strictly for the kids.

Inside the online casino I find a video game of Texas Hold’em in progress and I join in. This game shows a live dealer and other players sitting at the table, but actually only I am playing. The dealer is a blonde woman with a nice smile and she asks me to bet. I do and she deals me a jack and an 8. I raise my bet and she puts down the flop, a jack, an 9 and an 8. I am holding two pairs and I am excited. I raise my bet again and wait for the street. I look to see if the kids are alright and see that they are very quiet and all looking up. I follow their stares and almost faint. The sky is dark with wheeling birds. Thousands of them. They are coming in for lunch. I duck but keep one eye firmly fixed on the dealer who is about to drop the river. Another 8. The birds are only interested in food and my grandchildren are only interested in birds. I am alone with my full house.

Posted on: December 14, 2007

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