Settlement

At night the lights in the big dark green trees and the trees moving and the lights moving between the leaves. On the lawn a white table and white chairs and someone talking on the phone. I can hear his voice and I can hear someone playing the drums on another patio. He puts the phone away and moves off the grass through the lights into the shadows. Probably he was talking to his mother. No one talks to anyone but their mother here. 

Next week is your birthday but I doubt I will remember it. I boiled a dead parrot in a pot on the stove. I bleached the skull and have it on my dresser. It is small and the bones are thin and the the jaw is unhinged. I doubt I will give it to you.