The Straw and Stick Chicks fly as fast as their wings will carry them to the third sister's new brick home.
"Cat, cat!" is all the Straw Chick is able to sing out upon arriving at her sister's home. Mind you, it is sung with great feeling and a skilled demonstration of the chick's musical range.
"That's all right. Come on in. My home is made of solid brick and has one of the most advanced security systems money can buy," says the Brick Chick.
So the Straw and Stick Chicks swoop through the door to apparent safety.
Before the cat can even consider climbing out onto the limb where they all cower within their stone edifice, CRACK! The sound of doom. The branch snaps in two. All three birds plummet to their death, crushed by the weight of the world's safest home.
The tiny spirits of the birds look at you reproachfully as they float off to that divine aviary in the sky.
Well, guardian angel, you completely blew it on that one.
Copyright © February 1998 Katherine Phelps <muse@glasswings.com.au>.