Christmas Pigeon

Here's a little Christmas tale for you:

Natacha and Pierre were in good spirits, as would be expected of two young kids on Christmas day.  They had just come back from a Christmas carnival and had won some cool loot:  Pierre got a Pokemon toy, and Natacha got... a white pigeon!  I think that the pigeon was supposed to resemble a dove, being white and everything, but it wasn't really fooling anyone.  It was a pigeon.  Not that that really mattered.  Henri, as Natacha had christened him, seemed happy enough, and Natacha didn't seem to mind that he didn't represent the symbol of peace as accurately as his cousins.  Natacha and Pierre were having a great time running around chasing after the pigeon.  They took pride in the fact that they thought they were "teaching" him how to fly.  Poor Henri tried to be a good sport, but he occasionally flew to a safe spot high enough for the kids not to be able to reach him, and he'd rest momentarily and gather his resolve for another round.  During one such pause, Henri rested on the wall dividing the Moreno house from the neighbor's.  The kids climbed up on the sink outside in the courtyard in order to get high enough to grab the poor bird.  And now, we must go into slow motion:

Natacha leans over to grab Henri...

Henri flies over the wall to evade capture...

A neighborhood tomcat, lying in wait, seizes his opportunity...

Right before Natacha's eyes...

The tomcat leaps up...

Henri miscalculates the height necessary to escape the cat's claws...

And...

BAM!  ...

Henri is flapping and struggling in the cat's mouth...

Feathers everywhere...

Natacha lets out a terrible shriek...

The tears start to pour...

Poor Natacha.  Not exactly the Christmas present she had hoped for.  Thomas went to look for the bird, who had disappeared along with the cat.  He came back reporting that he never actually found it, which could mean that it actually  managed to get away.  I tried to comfort Natacha by suggesting to her that Henri was actually doing fine now, flying fancy free.  She sniffled and considered the idea, but still felt ripped off by the whole experience.  Thomas told me later there was no way that bird made it - too many feathers and carnage everywhere.  But he didn't want to traumatize the poor girl any more than she already had been from watching the whole spectacle go down. 

So, RIP, Henri...

Natacha and Pierre happily playing in the courtyard before the "Event."

Pierre and his new Pokemon toy.

Natacha and the doomed Henri, shortly before the disaster.