Another old idea I found, from 1994. Just one of those things that comes out of a bored mind.
Now this one’s strange, but it was one of many strange things that I said when spending the afternoon with my friends in the Fisherman’s Wharf area of San Francisco.
The idea evolved out of a situation where I was standing around waiting for the women to finish their browsing at the various jewelry stands along a park. I stood on the concrete planter wall observing all the people walking around. I was by myself for a while, and I noticed piles of cigarette butts in the planter. When my friend Dan came over, finding himself waiting for the women to finish, I pointed out the pile and told him I was on the trail of the wild Nicotine Bird. The pile of cigarette butts indicated they were there, for the butts were the rare bird’s droppings.
I told him to be quiet, not to scare away any of the Nicotine Birds: they are jittery and scare easily. I told him that no one has ever caught a glimpse of this rare bird, and that I could be making a great discovery for science. He asked how I would recognize them when I found one. I easily replied that the Nicotine Birds are easily identifiable by a tremendous hacking cough. It’s there mating call.
So, while the women were shopping, I searched through the bushes looking for this wild and rare species hoping to catch sight of one and per chance steal a snap shot.
When Dan related my story to the others, none of them quite looked at me the same after that. But I guess I expect that in my quest to discover the unbelievable and the absurd.
