this is for the owners of feline friends-- lucy, lucky and ellwood in our house. domesticated cats they are, that is wild animals, long ago tamed but in reality the distant relative of a hunter. of the three, lucy is the hunter among ours. from time to time she has gifted us with the occasional bug and rarely a bird. she comes in prancing, head and tail held high, meowing around her latest prey. lookie, lookie, what i got! most usually the birds are unharmed, minus a few feathers perhaps, but once rescued and after calming the hammering heart able to fly away towards another day. today, being mother's day, lucy really outdid herself. not the usual house sparrow as a mother's day gift. that just wouldn't do. on this fine morning a half grown mourning dove was her latest victim. into the house she came, prancing proudly, the dove's wings all askew. lucy meowing lookie, lookie; the dove cooing help me, heellpp! the dove escaped. visions of the wild kingdom ensued. the might lioness chasing, catching. the prey escaping, then more chasing. the dove's feathers, whether plucked or shed in defense, everywhere. the dove, making one final stab at escape flew toward the light of freedom-- the kitchen window. it bounced off, coming to rest in the sink. lucy, frantically looking, meowing, where did it go? the dove sat in the sink, composed. out of lucy's sight, it allowed me to gently pick it up with my left hand and cover it with my right. it never struggled against me. i took it outside to the alley. i set it on the branch of some brush piled there-- and in a second, in a burst of flight and loose feathers, away it flew. happy mother's day everyone. aio