There was a murder on our street last night, horrid and gruesome. The neighbors are shocked.

The criminals, a grandmother and her young grandson, had been planning this killing for months. The old gal spent weeks on end teaching the youngster every murderous trick she knew. They plotted and schemed, practiced and rehearsed until the time was just right.

That time was last evening about 6:30. It was hot and still bright in that late afternoon, the kind of heat that lets you know the night will be sultry. The victim was oblivious to the danger that lurked and went about the regular business of getting an evening meal.

Suddenly, through a quietly opened door, the criminals charged. They moved swiftly and silently, both in total stealth mode, and in perfect, well-oiled unison.

Too late, the victim saw them, or perhaps just felt the ground thunder under their pounding feet, and tried to escape. But the youngster leaped into the air and knocked the victim to the ground. The grandmother viciously crushed the bird's body in her powerful jaws and snapped its neck with one horrific shake. The little boy snatched the bird's head and gave it few more shakes for good measure, while grandma clutched its lifeless body.

She readily relinquished the kill and allowed the youngster to strut around the killing field dragging a pretty big grackle. Soon, though, he dropped the bird and spent several minutes barking at it and nudging it, trying to get it to move around again.

I scooped up the carcass and put it on the fence post for Bill to see when he got home later. I knew he would need to see evidence that our chubby old Grandma Jodi and her baby grandson Mickey had done the deed.

Whew, what an exciting evening for us!!!!!!

Marilynn in Arizona

"The Criminals"