The “House Critters” Empty Nest

   The house critters had noticed strange human activities going on and decided to ask Henrietta Bobbie Bunny about them. She was the eldest of the critters so Ducky Duck, Rainy Reindeer, Big Bunny and Blue Booby always reported to her what the humans were doing.

    Turned out most of the activities were being done by Amy, the youngest human, in her upstairs apartment. She had taken dozens of boxes out of closets, taken all kinds of things out of some of the boxes and the whole upstairs looked like a garage sale. The human the critters called Barb, Amy’s mother, and Amy kept looking at items and putting them in different piles. Blue reported he had watched for quite a long time and said, “It looked to me they moved everything from one spot to another and then back again!” This activity went on for days, which is the only way critters tell time as clocks confuse them. The outcome of the upstairs piles was boxes that Bob, Amy’s father, had to move downstairs into the den and dining room. They joined the boxes he had already carried down the stairs that contained a microwave, dishes and enough flatware for ten families, at least according to Bob.

    The critters overheard just about every conversation that took place in the house. They pieced together what they each had heard and decided Amy was moving out of the house. This got them very excited, while they normally got to play upstairs now they would have complete use of the upstairs. More days passed while the critters were deciding what part of upstairs each of them would claim some of the boxes disappeared. Actually Amy took them to the building where she and her boyfriend were renting an apartment. A whole new life away from home was starting with a new job in a new city and living together to decide if the two of them would stay together.      

   The critters, who are always listening, as you already know, started to hear Barb and Bob say, “It’s empty nest time.” They didn’t understand what this meant and all took a guess. When they were done talking they decided Ducky said it best. “It is when the youngest duck leaves the nest to go out on its own.” In this case Amy was that duck. They thought she would be gone and then comeback, like when she went to college, whatever that was. They hadn’t thought that Amy wouldn’t be back. All of a sudden having upstairs to themselves didn’t sound so great after all. They would miss her, she gave great tummy rubs and back scratches. She also gave them treats and half the fun of being upstairs was because she was there and all her stuff was around to play with!