Birds Play

His name is Dex. He's huge, terrifying, and has an edge to him that I shouldn't find intriguing, but I do. He's also the enforcer to a rival family, and my current prison guard. Dex wants me. I can see it in his eyes. Feel it in his innocent touch. He could break me with ease. But he hasn't. Instead, he's threatened to cut off any hand that dares to try. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he cares about me. But blood means everything in this world, and we're on opposite sides of a war. After all, I'm the Romano mafia princess. He's nothing but an Allegretti.

"There is the mammal way and there is the bird way." But the bird way is much more than a unique pattern of brain wiring, and lately, scientists have taken a new look at bird behaviors they have, for years, dismissed as anomalies or mysteries - what they are finding is upending the traditional view of how birds conduct their lives, how they communicate, forage, court, breed, survive. They are also revealing the remarkable intelligence underlying these activities, abilities we once considered uniquely our own.

This is the myth of the evil Crocodile Man, who would not share his firesticks with the other animals, and the cunning Bird Woman, who wanted to share fire with the people.

It is opening night of Miss Patel's Nativity play. The children have been rehearsing all December, and the audience are taking their seats for this year's hilarious school performance. Mary is getting her costume on, the Star is putting on his face paint, and everyone is very excited. Wait. Who brought that live donkey into the school? Why are both ends of the cow arguing? The Star is picking his nose! Nothing else could possibly go wrong...could it?