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Date Posted: Fri, Apr 13 2007, 13:19:12
Author: N.
Subject: And here's the fourth...click here
In reply to: N. 's message, "Click here to read it..." on Thu, Apr 12 2007, 16:31:02

4
Not surprisingly, it was a nest of baby birds--starlings. Connie‘s little daughter Charity was enraptured; at last the reunion, which until now hadn’t seemed a very interesting or worthwhile project, made sense to her. Immediately she established that she wanted to take the birds home with her after the reunion; Connie agreed, although she was a little doubtful as to what Daddy’s reaction might be.

Then for a while Connie was very busy, preparing a bed for the birds and finding worms and other delicacies for them. While she wasn’t watching, a prankish uncle playfully dropped cigarette ashes and tiny pebbles into those unsuspecting little wide open mouths. (If thy baby bird ask for worms, wilt thou give it a stone? Apparently so.) Fortunately for the birds, Connie didn’t let them out of her sight for long at a time, and they survived. And everyone--with the possible exception of this uncle, who shall remain nameless--was delighted, and oozed and aahed over these latest little vogels to arrive at the rrenion.

The reunion-goers were made up of three principal groups: the Vogels; their spouses (hereinafter referred to as the in-laws); and their offspring (hereinafter referred to as the cousins).

Among each of these groups a strong separate theme, a unity of feeling, seemed to emerge and develop. Among the Vogels, the feeling was joy at being together again, joy because the reunion had finally worked out. Joy because all of the beloved brothers and sisters were together again.

Among the in-laws, there was a sharing of this feeling, and more besides. They discussed the hazards, pitfalls, and surprises inherent in being married to Vogels. Most of the inlaws, and at least one cousin, agreed that the Vogels have one trait in common: they are RIGHT. This discovery had been made by each of these in-laws separately over the years, and now they compared notes--giving examples with fondness or affection or exasperation. In any discussion, it was agreed, the Vogels are right; and no amount of argument, persuasion or reason will have any effect.

Among the cousins, the prevailing feeling was one of astonishment and relief at discoveries that were made. In the atmosphere of sharing and revealing, skeletons came tumbling and toppling out of closets, and cousin after cousin learned for the first time that others too had fallen off the straight and narrow path. Besides relief, there was a little resentment at having been kept in the dark. One cousin wondered aloud why she hadn’t been informed of any of this before, why she had been allowed to bear the burden of thinking she was the only black sheep in the entire virtuous family. Keeping secrets in an attempt to preserve the good name of a family is perhaps understandable, the cousins agreed--but honesty is better.

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