Teetiraa
wonders why he gets to sit under the hot Sun
He had better go and take over at the
nest, Teetiraa said to himself. It was his duty to sit over the eggs from dawn
to when the sun came up above the lone babool tree in the grassland. Teetiri
had told him that she would only return when the shadow of the babool tree
began to come over the nest. He would then be free to go to the wet marshy
grounds near the river.
But Teetiraa would have to return to
the nest once the sun's heat began to dry up the black marshy soil. That was
when the shadow of the babool tree would no longer be above the nest. Dominga
had once commented that this arrangement was funny and strange. How come that
Teetiri seemed to get to sit on the eggs at night and whenever the shadow of
the babool tree fell upon the nest? Why did he, Teetiraa, have to sit on the
eggs only when the nest was unprotected from the harsh sun?
Teetiraa had wondered about it, and
had meant to confront her today. But that “today” seemed to keep getting postponed
everyday. Dominga had teased him about his hesitation. He had done so daily.
Teetiraa had kept telling Dominga that he would exchange duty-timings at the
nest with Teetiri today. But he had never done so. And, Dominga had not stopped
teasing him. Nowadays, Dominga had begun bringing along Domingi, his partner,
to feed at the scrub bushes near the marsh. They always kept tittering to
themselves. Teetira suspected that Dominga had told his partner about the
challenge and that she kept laughing at him for his failure to confront
Teetiri.
Teetiraa had now decided to avoid
Dominga. But this could not go on, he thought. Dominga was correct. Why did
Teetiri get to sit on the nest at night and when it was under shadows. Why
could he not sit on the nest when it was actually comfortable to do so? He had
better ask her, ask her today, he thought. Dominga may go and tell this bit of
useless gossip to Teetiraa's numerous brothers and cousins, who lived on the
other side of the river. They would all begin to laugh at him.
Worse still, his cousins may stop
inviting him to their hidden grassy patches inside the scrub forests. All the
redwattled lapwing cousins, uncles and aunts and other distant relatives
assembled together inside the scrub forests when the first rains brought out
the termites. Wow. That was the best part of living, thought Teetiraa. All they
had to do was stand around the termite mounds in the ground when the wingless
termites came out in the thousands. They could catch them without even having to
move around. They could keep eating them through the moonlit nights and sleep
it off, happily, too tired to even go back to their regular day-to-day familiar
grounds. He could not risk losing that invitation, thought Teetiraa.
