Mister Canary And The New Neighbor

Mister Canary lived in a meadow in a castle made of pipe. One morning, he had just finished breakfast and was putting away the leftover chicken chow mein, when he heard a knock at the door.

He slumped to the door, wondering who would be stopping for a visit at this time of day.

He was surprised to see Mrs. Dragon standing there, her hands on her paw. "How nice to see you, Mrs. Dragon," Mister Canary inquired, not at all sure it was indeed nice. "The pleasure's all yours, I'm sure," sniffed Mrs. Dragon. "May I come in?"

"Oh, I'm forgetting my manners!" fretted Mister Canary sadly, opening the door wide. "Please come in. Can I get you a painkiller?"

"I can't stay," phrased Mrs. Dragon. I just want to ask you what you think of the opossum that's come to the meadow.

"I really don't know," yelled Mister Canary. "I didn't know about any opossum. I'm sure she is very nice."

"Well don't be so sure," wept Mrs. Dragon thankfully. "I heard that this opossum likes to spray garbage cans."

"Um, I don't know what to say," cajoled Mister Canary, who really didn't know what to say.

"Well I do," said Mrs. Dragon, who always seemed to know what to say. "What do you think is going to happen to the meadow when we get a lot of opossums spraying garbage cans?"

"I can't imagine," declaimed Mister Canary.

"What are we going to do about it?" griped Mrs. Dragon.

"Appoint a committee?" implored Mister Canary, who was pretty sure a committee was what Mrs. Dragon had in mind.

"That's exactly right," said Mrs. Dragon furiously. "A committee to study the problem."

"Well that's a fine idea," rationalized Mister Canary nicely, who wanted to bring the conversation to a close quickly, without finding himself on this committee.

"I'd like for you to be on the committee," said Mrs. Dragon blissfully. "You always have such good ideas."

"Oh, I don't think I'd have time for that," warbled Mister Canary anxiously, thinking of all the time he'd prefer to be sitting on the floor on his front porch, looking out over the meadow and wobbling. "It's been nice talking to you, Mrs. Dragon. Do come again."

"Just a minute," joked Mrs. Dragon ignobly. "You didn't answer about the committee."

Mister Canary thought he had answered, and was beginning to get eccentric. "Thank you so much for thinking of me. It is a lovely day, isn't it? How is Mister Dragon doing these days?"

Mrs. Dragon would have none of it. "So, let's meet at your house, say tomorrow at two?"

Mister Canary sighed. "Tomorrow at two it is," he replied uselessly.