Wild Blue Acquaintance

I'd lived where I live now for a while & one day
there was a bluejay on the fence looking at me.
I got some peanuts & went out on the balcony & gave
one to this bird. He flew away to bury it somewhere
& returned for another. Each peanut he got closer on the
banister, until on the third one he hopped over & actually
grabbed the peanut right out of my fingers.

I waited & he didnt come back so I went in
& started working at the puter again.
Our place has big open windows in the
bedrooms & I was sitting there in the living room
& here comes the bluejay flying right
straight in through one open bedroom window and
right into the living room and lands on my
monitor.

I looked at him & he looked at me.

The peanuts were right there by me.
I carefully reached over & held one out to him
& he grabbed it & flew out the other bedroom
window. A minute later he was back for another.

I knew the people who had lived there before
& asked them if they had
trained a bluejay to do what he did, but no,
they were as astonished as me. There was another
jay, the mate, that hung around but wouldnt
come near me, much less in the house....

In the morning when I'd first go out there I'd look
around & he'd spot me from a mile away & come
flying over from a tree or a line in those big
rolling dips jays fly in. I used to get chills cuz
theyre like wild, and as trusting as he got of me for
the sake of the peanuts, his eyes just blazed
black with craziness all the time ready to go off. He
used to take peanuts out of my mouth but I always
kept my glasses on cuz i feared he would
peck my eyeballs.

Later I found it was likely a girl, cuz girls are
the forward ones among jays.

In no time, she was landing on
my head, taking peanuts out of my ears and
shirtpockets, and landing on my hand.
I'd have a peanut in my hand and she'd land there & I'd
palm it & she'd peck my thumbnail to get
me to give it up. I named her Bingo for some reason.
When we got a cat, Bingo visited cautiously a few times,
but never came inside again, & eventually moved on.