good talk mom, good talk

my mother used to call

and say

things like

is it raining over there,

across the bridge?

we lived in different states,

but ten miles apart.

we have big

black birds over here,

she'd say.

as big as chickens,

i don't know how they

get off the ground.

i'd usually say yes, it's

raining here too,

or yes, we have big 

black birds,

but sometimes i couldn't

resist

and tell her that it's sunny

and warm,

and no

we don't have birds

in our state.

but we have squirrels.

do you have squirrels too?

to which she'd

excitedly reply.

yes. so many squirrels.

the grey ones.

they get into the bird

feeder.