Yesterday we had planned to picnic - but the rain clouds glowering overhead, we directed our steps to the Zoo, where rain can not only be mitigated by structures of various types, but usually drives off the crowds and friskifies the critters. We had an enjoyable day - rain-free, but low on crowds due to the threatening skies. Pete the black rhino was more active and visible and less rock-like than on any previous occasion; the newish meerkat colony was charming and inquisitive; one of the wolves opened his eyes once. On our way out of the zoo, we came upon a peacock holding court in full array, and rotating slowly to accommodate both the gusting wind and his adoring public.

Now, when I was three or four, my pre-school ventured out on a field trip to the zoo. My little group came walking ‘round a corner and came face to face with a peacock in wide-stretched display, his many eyes approximately three feet from our staring ones. The shock of this confrontation producing, in us, nervousness; and in him, a scream like a man having his foot tendons severed with an acid-dripping serrated knife, we ran.

However, I am not afraid of peafowl. I hasten to make this point, because that would be silly in the extreme. I rather consider them slightly ill-omened. But as I watched the blue-bright bird strutting and turning, I thought, perhaps they aren’t such a nuisance after all. We moved on, and got in our car, noting on the way that a peahen had decided to investigate the parking lot. On our way out of the lot, this same peahen decided to cross in front of our car. Then, seeing as how we were stopped anyway, she decided that what she really wanted was a closer look at tires, and pranced over to stick her wee head into our wheel well. Being inured by years of shouting, crowds, and pursuit by small children, to surprise and fear, the peahen was not to be scared off by flapping car doors or imprecations.

As I was attempting to utilize these methods, and Matt was chafing at the inconvenience, there was a loudish sort of noise, and the car rocked suddenly. A mini-van directed by one of those people that think the rear-view mirror is just a convenient place to hang things had rolled happily out of its parking place and into our car. Matthew, already somewhat impatient due to peahen, stormed out of the car, and held a conversation with the woman in question, which concluded with him getting back into the car with the words “Drive carefully” spoken in his most dreadfully sarcastic and biting tones (the ones I try to keep him from using on incompetent retail workers all the time.) Apparently the car was only scratched. On the bright side, the peahen appeared to have been frightened off. Birds of ill omen, I tell ya.