It’s difficult not to draw comparisons between some of our birds and Son, when it comes to performance and ‘look at me’ behaviour. And yet, paradoxically, this behaviour is both selfconscious and utterly unselfconscious at the same time.
Yesterday afternoon, I left Son in what the hospital calls ‘the transit lounge’ (where you wait until your bed is ready) and drove to my hotel to check in. A bit later I walked back to the hospital and, on impulse, bought Son a huge teddy bear and three chocolate hearts at the hospital’s gift shop. When I finally found his room, the teddy bear elicited gales of laughter from the other three guys in his room, one of whom said, “And we thought he was a macho machine!” A nurse came in and asked what teddy’s name was and I said, “Mummy”, so she then labelled him with a sticker. More hilarity.
I was then allowed to take Son out for dinner which surprised me as his head was adorned with electrodes in readiness for today’s surgery. I know I already posted this photo last night but it’s worth another look:
So we took a taxi from the hospital to Leederville where we were meeting friends. In his usual, gregarious way (just like Husband!), Son struck up a conversation with the taxi driver who told us he wasn’t allowed to go home until much later or his wife (“the captain”) would send him right back out there. Son then told him why he had electrodes glued to his head and the taxi driver grinned and said, “That’s good, I thought you were one of those hooligan types.”
Once out of the taxi, Son and I found the burger joint where we were meeting our friends but, since we were early, we went across the road to a pub where we shared a pint of lager. Son’s head elicited a few startled glances but, as there was some sort of street performance thing happening, he didn’t get as much attention as expected. “Don’t worry about these, mate,” Son said to the bartender, pointing to his head, “I’m having an operation tomorrow.” The bartender just smiled as if to say, ‘Yeah, ‘right’.
Wake up soon, my little peacock! I applaud you….
jmgoyder 