\u201cLook at that, Ed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy eggs\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mel and Ed were at the counter of AL’S DINER that Thursday morning, Ed with his usual oatmeal, and Mel with\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThose aren’t over easy, Ed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To make his point, Mel poked at one of the exposed yolks with his fork, as he added several extra frown lines to his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo they’re not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ed looked away. Like most people, he and Mel preferred eggs easy, frazzled around the edges as well. Who wants to stare at two sunny-side-up yolks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had a view out the diner window which hadn’t been washed in the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you think I should send \u2018em back?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A return order?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How would Al feel about that as he worked and sweated in the cramped, greasy kitchen? As he refried the eggs, might he spit on the grill?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHey\u2026 Look at your car, Mel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYour car\u2026 Aren’t those starlings on it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The diner window offered a blurred view of the parking lot where three \u2013 and now four \u2013 starlings crapped on Mel’s car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mel hated starlings, even more than crows. And no one likes crows on a car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook at the mess they’re making, Mel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond the uneven parking lot was the rest of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook at the birds in the sky there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A collection of starlings is called a murmuration. By contrast, a collection of crows is a murder of crows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThose birds certainly go for your car, Mel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The used Prius would need a coin-operated wash as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s a hell of a world, Mel, when birds go after cars like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mel seemed, well, lost, distracted. Was he trying to spot the car wash at the end of the street?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe world out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe world, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mel squinted. He hadn’t been to his optometrist in a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou know, Ed, when you put it like that\u2026 It does make my eggs look a little better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook at that, Ed.\u201d \u201cWhat?\u201d \u201cMy eggs\u2026\u201d Mel and Ed were at the counter of AL’S DINER that Thursday morning, Ed with his usual oatmeal, and Mel with\u2026 \u201cThose aren’t over easy, Ed.\u201d To make his point, Mel poked at one of the exposed yolks with his fork, as he added several extra frown lines … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa867U-11o","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3931,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3930\/revisions\/3931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
David Sydney is a physician who writes fiction in and out of the EHR (Electronic Health Record).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"