<< I'm with the bird

From Alfred’s journal

Switch brought a friend to the oak this morning, a gray thing he called Pernell who would not say a word for an hour. I asked twice what he thought of the weather and got nothing but a tail. Then a jay came through and wanted to know who the stranger was and whose tree this was supposed to be, and Pernell said, I'm with the bird, and that was the end of the jay. I used to think silence in company meant a lack of opinion; I spent years filling other creatures' pauses for them. He had an opinion the whole time and was waiting for something worth spending it on. Switch says he is like that at home too, which Switch finds restful and I find a little alarming, since I never know whose side anyone is on until the jay shows up.