"The Boys

The Boys
Originally uploaded by bonsaikiptb.

....Are Back in Town."

This is a rare sight, at least in my yard. Mated pairs of Cardinals often perch closely in my trees and shrubs. Rarely, however, do I see two males so peacefully coexist.

Perhaps these are brothers or cousins. Or perhaps my neighborhood attracts aggressive Forumla 1-type Cardinals. I don't know.

I do know this. Whenever my twin cousins, now both age 51, get together they both gleefully sing out "The Boys are Back in Town." At least to me, the scene they create in doing so is as funny today as it was 30 years ago.

It reminds me of an old television commercial in which a diminutive business man, dressed in a pinstripe suit, drives and then stops his little moped between two hulking Harley riders at a traffic light. Realizing his uncomfortable (at least to him) circumstance, he squeeks out a high-pitched declaration: "I'm bad to the bone!"

A momentary pause is followed immediately by both motorcyclists bursting into uproarious laughter, and the little moped pulls away in a smoggy two-stroke whine.

Great commercial, though I have no memory of what product it was meant to sell.

The Cardinal Boys indeed. Were they dogs they would at least be pestering one another.