Bye Bye Birdie

“Henry, do you mind pulling over to that Shell station?” Henry’s wife of thirty-seven years asked. “I need some Kemosabe coffee,” she added.

“No problem, hon,” Henry replied. “As a matter of fact, I think I’ll join you. I’m in the mood for a good cup of hot coffee.”

After Henry parked his car, Carol and Henry entered the Shell station and immediately noticed the coffee section to be to the rear left of the front door. As Carol walked towards the coffee-station she noticed a poster displayed over the station reading, ‘Kemosabe Coffee’, with flavors, Mocha, Chocolate Cinnamon and Chocolate Hazelnut. Looking up at the poster Carol asked Henry, “Have you ever heard of Kemosabe Coffee?”

“Actually, I have,” he replied. My secretary introduced me to it about a month ago. It’s excellent.”

“Well then, if Jackie endorses it, then it must be good,” Carol stated referring to Henry’s secretary, Jackie. Continuing to look at the Kemosabe coffee poster, Carol quietly said, “I think I’ll have the Chocolate Cinnamon, after all Henry it is the first day of Fall and that should get me in the autumn mood.”

“I think I’ll have a large Chocolate Hazelnut,” Henry stated.

After they prepared their Kemosabe coffee they returned to Henry’s car. For the next several minutes Henry talked about the rare bird sighting of a Bermuda Petrel yesterday off the coast of Cape May. An avid birdwatcher, Henry could not wait to board the Cape Sea Excursion boat he had tickets for in thirty-five minutes. “Well, Henry, if we’re going to make the boat you had better put your Kemosabe Coffee down and head towards the dock,” Carol suggested. Twenty-five minutes later Henry and Carol arrived at the Cape May dock, where they boarded the Cape Sea Excursion boat. “Do you have your camera and tri-pod?” Carol asked Henry as she discarded her empty container of Kemosabe coffee.

“Yes,” Henry replied with excitement in his voice. “Do you have any idea how rare it is to get the opportunity to photograph a Bermuda Petrel so far from Bermuda?”

Never taking an interest in Henry’s bird photography hobby, Carol lackadaisically replied, “No,” referring to the fact that she couldn’t care less about her husband’s hobby, which she considered extremely boring.

“Look, Carol!” Henry called out as the boat just left the dock. “There it is, Henry proclaimed pointing to the Bermuda Petrel nesting in the marshland just sixty feet from the starboard side of the excursion boat. “I got to get my camera,” he called out as he reached down into his camera bag to extract his 35mm Canon camera with a one-hundred-foot telephoto lens. A second later he was focusing the lens on the Bermuda Petrel, when he whispered to Carol, “This is going to be one of my greatest shots ever.” When he finished his sentence, he clicked the button on the camera to take the picture. “Do you believe this, Carol, the battery is dead,” he whispered in disappointment as he reached into his camera bag for a replacement battery. Just as he was closing the door to the battery compartment and raising his camera toward the Bermuda Petrel he called out, “Dam” referring to the fact that the Bermuda Petrel began to fly away. “Do you believe my luck?” he said to Carol in frustration.

Sarcastically, Carol replied, “Bye-Bye-Birdie.”