plan budget new offers president 1 Yet another budget Hmm plan
Chapter One At the risk of sounding clichéd I’ll tell you that the fog I was flying through was thick as soup And not like consommé more like cream of cauliflower I know you’re thinking just how would I a typical homing pigeon know about things like soups Because I pay attention that’s how I read things Every day in the newspaper News Weather Advice columns Recipes But I’ll explain that later Being a homing pigeon means lots of flying Racing then finding your way home I can find my way back home through instinct alone without any map or compass just the one in my head And flying is serious business especially in fog I have to be careful I reduced my speed to 35 miles per hour nearly half my normal racing speed but even at reduced speeds things can loom suddenly out of dense clouds
I veered left to miss colliding with the huge Bridgetown water tower My wing tips were just a caterpillar’s length away from the sides of the iron tank Close one I thought With the tower behind me I looked carefully for a slate covered spire In a flash it was there St Marco’s Church A starling gazed at me blankly from his perch on top of the lightning rod as I shot by Where’s the fire he snickered I just ignored him and zipped past When you’re racing seconds count I was really breathing heavily now My pectoralis major was starting to burn I set my beak to 7 degrees west of north and pitched quickly to the left and just in time the needlelike talons of a sharp-shinned hawk swept by barely missing my chest muscles I felt a sharp pain at my tail and an invisible push of air as I tumbled in space With no time to think I maneuvered into a series of dives left right and down and landed on a narrow ledge of an apartment building I was hidden in the fog Two tail feathers my own slowly drifted past The hawk once again a part of the gray mist disappeared disappointed 2 Homer on the Case
Luck was with me this time I whispered to myself All three of my heart chambers were thumping wildly I took a moment to cautiously look up then down left and right and then I took off again I passed over the tops of some trees ghostly and vague down below Keeler Park I thought Getting close But dang it I’m late I knew my time wouldn’t be great thanks to being sidetracked by the hawk Soon I saw the familiar red-brown brick of home appear It was a five story apartment building Humans lived inside but I lived on the top I could make out my owner Otto down below on the roof Grandad was standing with him as usual smiling I folded my wings and with one final thrust I plunged beak first from the sky swooping to my landing platform just as the gray shrouded dawn was turning into a golden summertime sunrise Also as usual Otto had the gold pocket watch at the ready I heard him calling even before I landed Atta way Homer You made it He smiled proudly as he clicked a button on the watch Otto always gave me a hero’s welcome welcome as if I were a hero not just another homing pigeon doing what I do best coming home 3 Chapter One
