Dear Binda,

Thank you for sending the birds. As you know, I suck at listening to people. Birds are so much easier to listen to. I have no idea what they are saying. But I’m listening. You send them regularly. The ones who speak so well. Who sing like dessert without the guilt. Biblical birds. Dancing birds. Singing birds.

I should have you stop sending them. I should be able to find my own, befriend my own. But you know where to look, how to look, why a particular one matters. You know why the catbird meows. You understand a robin’s boldness. You empathize with the hawk.

Maybe a pet bird is the way to go. When I suggest such a thing you laugh and say “It takes one to know one.” Yeah. I guess so. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to befriend them. Birds are almost, kinda, just like friendly people, now that I think about it.

I guess nice people can be put in cages too. You take their singing at their word, but you can’t really, really, know what they mean.