Birds

"But you hate birds," he said, not wrong. "I am not a fan, true," she acknowledged, getting her mask and gloves on. "And yet, here we are." He watched her through the window as she stepped to the front of the house with the feeders she had purchased at Home Depot and filled with seed in the garage. Afterwards, she very carefully set out the birdbath they'd put in the shed when they bought the house six years ago; she had scrubbed it clean and now filled it with water from the hose. "Maybe I shouldn't say this," he whispered as she came back in and removed her gear, "but I'm really proud of you." She smiled, looking down as she kicked off her Outside World Shoes. "I hope the birds can forgive me for all of the years I spent caring more about a poop-free-driveway than their little tiny lives," she whispered back. "I can do better.”