They’d sit on the bench smokin cigrettes an drinkin coffee, an leavin us be. Bess part bout bein outside was the big sky an feelin the sun all over me like a warm blanket. Gramma use to have a sayin for times like that. She’d say she felt “free as a bird.” I liked birds. Maybe cause like Gramma said — they was free. But I think it was cause they was interestin an whenever I could I’d watch the birds round Woodlands. We had big ones with long necks that’d fly over us an sounded like a bunch of cars honkin in a traffic jam. Then there was the seagulls — they was the ones who’d say squawk squawk squawk an then poop on the windows. We had liddle ones too — cept they dint hardly ever sit still long enough to get a good look at. The birds I liked best were the black ones — the crows. Yup, cause they sure was awful smart … for birds. One day after it rained we went out in the yard. I stood still as a statue, watchin some of em. They mus have awful good eyes — cause they always knowed where to find the worms.
