Pigeons

The other day as Ansley and I were sitting at the nurse's desk in pediatrics, we had an unexpected visitor. Mounden, one of Emily's brothers from Samedi's family, sauntered up to the desk. I started talking to him about random things, and then I asked him about his birds. Mounden, who's about 13 or 14 years old, loves to buy and keep these pigeons. When Emily was here, they made a little mud hut for all of Mounden's pigeons.

"How many birds do you have now, Mounden?" I asked, trying to make good conversation.

"Eight," he said as he smiled and kind of fiddled with something on the desk.

"Have you given them all names?"

He looked around, and thought for a second before he said, "Yes."

"Well, what did you name them?" curiosity got the better of me.

A huge smile came over his face, and he said, "Emily. And Alex." Then he tried to stifle some laughter.

Ansley and I burst out laughing, and then I said, "But Mounden, that's only two of them, what are the other ones' names?"

He thought for half a moment before he smiled again and said, "Caroline."

This was just too much. Ansley and I laughed again. Then Ansley said, "What about Ansley, is there an Ansley?"

"Yes, there is," he laughed some more.

"And a Kristin?" I asked.

More laughter. "Yes. There is one for everyone, Jackson, Sarah, James." We all laughed for quite a while over Mounden and his pigeon's names. Apparently there isn't one for Stefan. Later when Mounden was walking to the market with Ansley, Caroline, and me, we were telling Caroline about his pigeons. So she suggested that he name one of them Jackson Stefan. Mounden thought this was hilarious, and we all laughed some more too.