Name Them All Steve

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Once, there was a bird named Stanley. Stanley lived in a large cedar oak tree with three other birds, Stacy, Steve, and Stella. The cedar oak tree Stanley lived in has been there for over 100 years, and the generations before him, his mother and his mother's mother, had also lived in the very same oak tree. Now, this oak tree dwelled next to a clear, flowing, stream, in a small forest not too far from a little cottage. Stanley eventually learned that a happy family of humans lived in that house, and had been living there for quite some time now. One day, when Stanley and Steve decided to annoy the humans that lived in the house by chirping their heads off in a nearby tree, Stanley saw one of the bigger humans put a sign in the front yard. The words read, "FOR SALE" In big, red, letters that scared Stanley. But, Stanley decided he didn't really care anyway and flew back to the big oak tree in the woods with his new friend, Steve. Steve knew what the sign meant though. Steve was also distracted by the blackberry bush in bloom below him. Steve loved food.

A few months later, Stanley was digging for worms near the stream's bed with Steve, when he heard a horrible sound coming from the cottage. He flew over to inspect the cause of the noise and found Stella on a branch overlooking the crime scene. The Midget Human was carrying boxes out of the cottage and into the noisy motor car that seemed to always moan in distress, and had collapsed from the weight. Stanley didn't really care that Midget Human fell, but also didn't like the horrible sound that Midget Human was making. Stanley gave Stella a, "Please help," look, and Stella flew off, clearly irritated. A few minutes later, the Big Human came out and made the Midget Human stop crying. Stanley couldn't help but overhear their conversation.

"Mama, I don't want to move. If we move, I'll have to make new friends, and our house won't have a creek, and I'll be bored all day." The Big Human replied, "Honey, dad has to move closer to the city for his job. We're lucky we found such a nice home in the urban area." So, Stanley was stuck wondering what urban meant, and who was moving into the cottage. He also wondered if the worms that he had been digging for were gone. Stanley figured Stacy, the only bird who actually knows what's happening, and what she's doing, had picked them up by now.

Finally, a few days later, when the leaves on the big cedar oak tree started to change colors, and the stream dried up, when the weather started getting cooler, Stanley saw a new motor vehicle pull into the rough, rocky driveway of the little cottage. The humans in the vehicle were midget humans, but they looked wrinkled and saggy. He heard one of them exclaim, "Golly, this place needs some work." Stanley thought, "Who says golly anymore?" Then he heard the other Saggy Human remark, "We'll turn this into a mansion. And everyone around for miles and miles will be talking about how grand it is." Stanley thought they were kidding. A mansion? Out of this little cottage? Pff. Good luck.

But he was wrong. One spring morning, nearly 6 months later, Stanley awoke to loud rumbling, as if a stampede of elephants were coming his way. Then the rumbling stopped. Then he went back to sleep. Then it started again. Then he woke up. This went on for several hours until he finally decided there was no point in sleeping anymore. Stella, who by the way never talked or chirped for an unknown reason, dropped a worm on Stanley's head as if saying, "Get up dummy." Stanley got up and decided that Steve and he should welcome their new neighbors, though he had a small headache thanks to the existence of loud noises. He found Steve who was gobbling down the fattest worm he had ever seen, and together they flew over to the cottage. Or what was left of the cottage.

What Stanley made out of the image before his eyes was a giant version of the old Midget Human's little toy that he played with for hours, the toy that caused destruction among the ants. He also saw a roley-poley on a string, and people wearing giant yellow leaves on their head. Realistically, or what Stacey saw, was a bulldozer or two, a wrecking ball, and people with yellow helmets on. There were people shouting, people writing things down, people working these strange machines. Then Stanley realized how far humans would go for their own pleasure, the pleasure that they could only see. Dreams that stopped them from seeing that what they had was just fine, what they had they could just enjoy by itself. The truth is, humans are always thinking about what could be, they never stop and think, isn't it amazing that I have the privilege of a house, of a private driveway, of a forest. Stanley didn't understand why humans were so needy. He also had no idea what he just thought because Stanley is just a bird.