Summer Mix

Chapter 36

More Kiki and Tutu

"I'm really getting to like Castle," Kiki chirped.

"Me too," Tutu agreed. "He put all that food out for us yesterday and then those delicious bits today."

"Did you see how he ended up with those bits?" Kiki asked.

"No," Tutu replied. "Was he doing something with Kate?"

"He was doing something alright," Kiki answered, "but I have no idea what it was. They had this big pile of the good stuff, not bits, big pieces and they were doing something with rectangular pieces of something. It looked like that nice nesting material, only too stiff. Anyway it looked like they were playing with the stiff things and using the food somehow. The food started to break into smaller pieces until it was all in the bits Castle put out this morning."

"Did they stop playing?" Tutu asked.

"No," Kiki answered. "They still had those stiff things, but they started taking off coverings. They really seemed to be having a good time, much better than with the food. When they ran out of coverings they did that lip touching thing. Then Castle picked Kate up."

"Why?" Tutu asked. "Did she hurt herself?"

"Not that I could see," Kiki replied. "She looked happy. He just took her to the bouncy thing and they started mating again. They didn't gather up the bits until this morning. When Castle put them out, he found another one of those things with the pretty nesting material. He looked pretty excited and took it inside. I flew around to one of those hard things and I saw him show it to Kate. She looked excited too. Then that big shiny thing showed up and took them to the big water."

"How do you know where they went?" Tutu asked.

"I followed them," Kiki answered. "It was a short flight."

"What were they doing there?" Tutu asked.

"A lot!" Kiki exclaimed. "They got some things out of the big shiny thing and they were using them to dig holes in the sand. They kept looking at that piece of nesting material again and again. They looked confused. Then Castle found a thing on the beach. He called it a starfish. He and Kate put their lips together and he lifted her up and swung her around. They put the digging things back in the metal thing and got something soft out. They put the starfish in it and talked to the human who's always in the big shiny thing.

The big shiny thing went away leaving them on the sand near the water. They walked a long time, until the ball of light was at the top of the blue. They kept picking up starfish and hard round things and putting them in the soft thing. Then they finally walked back to where they started."

"Let me guess," Tutu said, "they mated again."

"I'm not sure," Kiki told her. "They took off some of their coverings, left the soft thing on the sand and went in the water. They just moved around for a while but then they did the lip touching thing a lot. I couldn't see what else they did, it was under the water. When they came out they just lay on the beach holding on to each other until the big shiny thing came back. It took them back to their nest."

"Then what?" Tutu asked.

"They left that soft thing with the starfish and hard round things where they've left all the other stuff that human with the funny thing on his head picks up. Then they went into the water place in their nest. I think they might have been hungry because they didn't even try to mate again, they just used the water to get the sand off their bodies, put on some new coverings and started playing with food again.

Castle was using something very noisy in the food room. I could hear it through the hard things. He put some red fruit in it and some white liquid and some other stuff. He ended up with some thick pink liquid. He gave it to Kate and they touched lips again. Then he made more noise, ended up with a brown liquid he kept for himself. They both made all kinds of little pieces of food. There was fruit and other stuff and some of those flat things that are really salty.

They ate really slowly, doing that thing where they feed each other again, but it also felt like they were looking at me through the hard things, especially Castle. Kate looked really happy with the pink liquid. She kept taking little drinks of it and touching Castle. Then they went to the bouncy thing."

Tutu let out a long trill. "More mating?"

"No," Kiki answered. "I think they must have been tired. Kate just sort of curled up in Castle's arms and they lay there. They might have been resting or sleeping."

"They do seem to like to sleep in the later part of the day," Tutu commented. "Most of the humans around here do. They don't seem to like to move around a lot when it gets really hot."

"That's true," Kiki agreed. "The one with the funny thing on his head was moving around though. He took the soft thing and left something else."

"Another one of the nesting material things?" Tutu asked.

"Something different," Kiki replied. "It was square and hard and had something in it that made sounds when the human moved it. It also had something on it. When Castle and Kate got up again, Castle picked it up. He showed it to Kate. They looked at what was on it for a while, then they opened it. There were a lot of pieces inside."

"Food?" Tutu speculated.

"It didn't look like food and they didn't try to eat them," Kiki told her. "But they took it to the place where they eat and spread all the pieces out on the flat thing they usually put their food on. Then they started putting the pieces together. There were little shapes that fit into each other. I don't know if they finished. They were still doing it when it started to get dark and I had to get back to my own nest. Bubu gets upset if I'm away too long."

"He probably just wants to see if you brought anything good back to eat," Tutu said, fluttering her wings. "That's what my mate is usually interested in."

"You're probably right," Kiki agreed. "I left some of Castle's good stuff in the nest but Bubu finished it up. I found some nice flying things on my way back though. Bubu was happy."

"Bet he wasn't as happy as Castle," Tutu teased.

Kiki cocked her head. "No, except for Kate, I don't think anybody is as happy as Castle right now, but I'm going to keep watching."

Tutu fluttered again. "Yeah, me too."