Petrified Things.

We found this sad little bird outside, clutched to a plant in our front yard. Hummingbirds are beautiful and I love them, but they sure are strange. I mean, what other creature’s heart beats as fast as a hummingbird’s? Or flies upwards like a helicopter? And how does a hummingbird just die, clutching a plant for dear life? From what, do you suppose? A heart attack? So many questions!

That odd discovery was followed by this strange story. For dinner last week we had grilled hamburgers. There was one leftover and so it was put into a plastic bag. I decided to move things around in the fridge and it fell back behind the shelf. I heard it “plunk” and figured it had hit the shelf below. Upon investigating that shelf, it was nowhere to be seen. I looked up, I looked down, I stuck my hand behind and up. Nowhere.

I thought for a few seconds that I might actually have imagined the whole thing. Maybe there really hadn’t been leftovers. and then this rolled out of the shelf.

I investigated further and discovered that the light of the fridge had a cover over it. A cover that curved so it misrepresented by its shape that something would hit it and roll down. But, no. Things hit it and land on it and live on it and die on it. Apparently. Unless encouraged to move along.

So the hamburger had hit the top of the shelf, dislodging the petrified tomato. How long had that tomato been there? Two years? Could that have possibly been the mystery smell we had a couple years ago?