Cain's at It Again

Cain, our friend from next door, seems to be creeping into more and more conversations lately as the summer progresses. We were at the dinner table only this week, enjoying our calories, when David paused between bites to say, “Cain’s creating a new species.”

Not knowing we were living next to Dr. Moreau all I could come up with was, “Really?”

Andrew, who’s always been more alert during our evening meal said, “What kind of species is he creating?”

David, his mouth now full of food, answered through his burger but I was too curious about the genetic experiments occurring in our midst to care, “He’s been sticking things in his tree to get them to grow into the branches so the tree has different parts growing out of it.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Pieces of metal and things like that.”

“He’s trying to graft metal onto a lilac tree?”

“Yup.” And more chewing.

“O-kay. . . ” I said slowly as I began to entertain mental images of a cyborg-lilac monster rising from the dust next door to terrorize the neighborhood.

“Oh, and he tried to get a beetle and a centipede to mate.”

“How’d that go for him?”

“He failed. They didn’t like each other.”

I hear that’s a major problem with inter-species dating but it’s just as well, I don’t know that world is ready for a beetle with a hundred legs though I enjoyed the vision of Cain trying to encourage romance. What does one do to set The Mood for two invertebrates? Roses? Chocolates? Oysters? Or maybe they're less demanding and just need a little raw meat and a dung pile for an evening of love. I'll have to ask Cain.

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