AN ORANGE TREE

I was standing in my back yard, looking up in the trees, when my son Alex came out the back door.

“What are you doing?” He called to me.

I had my hand cupped over my eyebrows, shading my eyes from the morning sun. “I’m looking for oranges.” I called back.

Alex stepped out the back door and looked up into the trees. “Aren’t they maple trees?” He asked.

I looked over at him. “They are.” I pointed to the empty bird bath. “But I left some orange slices for the birds and now they’re missing.”

“So why do you think they’re in the trees?” Alex laughed.

“I looked it up on Google.” I explained. “If the oranges are missing it said it was probably a blue jay or a crow taking them up in the trees to eat them in peace.”

“So if they wanted to eat them in peace why are you trying to track them down?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I just want to see who enjoyed eating them.”

I walked back toward the deck. “I guess I’ll never know.” I sighed.

“Well maybe whoever it was didn’t take them up in our trees and brought it over to the neighbors trees instead.”

That made me stop. “I didn’t think of that.” I looked over at the neighboring trees.

“Do you want me to get the binoculars for you?” Alex laughed again.

“No.” I laughed. “I guess that would look weird.”

We both went back in the house and I went over to the butcher block where we kept a fruit bowl. Grabbing another orange I went to the silverware drawer and took out a knife. “I’ll just put another orange out and see if I can catch who’s taking it.” I said as I sliced the orange into two pieces and walked back outside with them.

Dropping them near the bird feeders I headed back to the house. I could hear a blue jay and a crow calling out.

“Did you hear that?” I said to Alex as I came back inside. “A crow and a blue jay were letting everyone know I’d put some more fruit out.”

“Is that what they were calling out?” Alex couldn’t help but smile as he shook his head.

“That’s exactly what they were saying!” I explained as I went to the kitchen sink to wash my hands.

Just then my husband Steven came into the kitchen and went over to the butcher block to grab an orange. “Anyone want to share an orange with me?” He asked as he began to peel it.

“I’m good.” I said as I turned the water off and grabbed a towel to dry my hands.

He held out a wedge to Alex. “How about you?” He asked.

“I’m good, too.” Alex said as he leaned against the counter.

Steven popped a wedge into his mouth. “Well, I’m glad to see you guys are enjoying the oranges I bought yesterday.” He pointed over to the fruit bowl. “I see there’s already a few missing.”

Alex looked over at me raising his eyebrows.

“Everyone’s enjoying them!” I quickly said cutting off Alex before he could say anything.

“Yeah,” Alex said as he looked out the kitchen window where the orange was sitting on the ground near the bird feeders. “Everyone seems to be enjoying them!”