2070. The Little Egret

You might think it’s funny but it’s not. The dog really did tear up Anita’s homework. She had spent an entire two months on her project. She had maps and drawings and pages and pages of writing. I’m sure Anita knew more about Egretta garzetta immaculate than most ornithologists.

This Little Egret doesn’t nest here, but it comes for the winter months – apparently. Anita has never seen one, and nor have I. Just a few arrive for several months and then fly away again. I promised Anita we’d go to see them next season when the egrets arrive. We’re both looking forward to it actually; more so now that the dog has torn her precious project up. The silly thing is that the egrets wade in a lagoon not far away from here. It’s walking distance – that is, by a couple of hours. We tried once before to see them but when we got there they weren’t there!

Anita emailed the teacher about the dog and asked for a time extension to do it all again, and the teacher replied with a curt: Good one. Next time try and think up something original. You’re getting an F.

This is grossly unfair. It’s bad enough not being able to attend classes with this wretched pandemic; but not being able to properly converse with the teacher face to face makes things much more difficult. I had a conversation with the teacher online about all this and she called me a liar. So I called her a few things as well. I was cut off and that was that.

Of course we can’t go visit the egrets this year because we’re all stuck at home. It’s ridiculous. Will we ever see a Little Egret? What’s this? Goodness! What’s the dog ripping up now? Don’t tell me he’s got another one of the chickens. Dear me, there seems to be white feathers everywhere.