The Honeyeater May26

You read about these and every day they stared you in the face, like the ones attached to the gal’s bag (though even those were oversized); a giant brown honey-eater like this though on the loose, never previously. Not at the library, not the buses or at the eateries. A child could not have managed that bulk, younger teen would struggle. Local or Mainland Chinese, 20 possibly. (There was the same trouble over there of course.) Were this a paying venue, a question might have arisen; on an aeroplane certainly there would have been. This Teddy was not going to fit under the seat in front, and carry-on the question of cruelty arose. 6 - 7 minutes the girl sat with it nestled in her lap, staring a little before her; nothing to suggest any trouble. iPad raised on its stand, 1.5 litre ceramic bottle. When she rose to move off, getting around the far corner of the shelves, the assumption was that the street, the trains & malls was where the serious difficulty lay. 10 - 15 seconds later, however, here she was returned to collect him, before setting off again. Soon pair returned. Otherwise, as far as one could tell, on the surface and by all indicators, a young lass perfectly settled. At the table working steadily. Tall, slim; good quality cushioned phones (which no doubt aided the cause). A few minutes more Teddy was lifted higher against her chest, rather a handsome head over her shoulder, where the length of arm became apparent. Surprisingly long; the nails retracted. Proportions here were in fact probably correct. Shuffling the papers was easily managed with the Furry resting between. There were no school-kids at the tables, all 19 & 20 year-old peers; a good number of both genders carried the miniatures on their bags & pencil cases. In a cold climate the whole thing would have been more fitting, though bearing in mind a significant minority here did live the complete A/C bubble. Bending to write with a pen, now her own chin fell onto Teddy’s neck. Half hour steadily progressing the task, without too much effort. White-out the bear, return him to his mountain-side habitat, no indication of the slightest sort. No doubt the forerunners all the way back to earliest beddy-byes sat patched on the upper shelf in the wardrobe at home. A hint might have been given by a glimpse of a parent, or even sibling. Later only a couple of eyes from passersby; most of the youngsters here had seen the like often enough.

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NB. Zoran’s Honeyeater video from early Spring in the ancestral village.