Page 55 of Broken Grump

She nods over to who I assume is her husband and two young children. All three of them are horsing around.

“Well, at least we get our fun too,” she says, holding a cup with the words, “Mom Juice” along the front.

“Right.”

Unlike her, I’m doing this completely sober, but I’m grateful for that because I don’t want to miss, or forget, a single minute of the cuteness between the two of them.

“Oh, my gosh! Look at that!” Hayden exclaims, pointing at something.

“It’s like a rainbow bird! What’s it called?”

“I’m not sure.”

They both look down at the chart below the large enclosure. And after cordially excusing myself from the boozy mom, I join them.

“Let’s see.” Hayden is balancing her on his shoulders by holding firmly to one of her hands, and he uses the other to scan the various common and scientific names.

And each time that he looks up to inspect the animal, he squints.

“Did someone forget their glasses at home?” I joke.

“What? No!” By the way he reacts all defensively, I believe he may have. And that makes me giggle. But on the other hand, thethought of him in a distinguished pair of glasses doesn’t sound like the worst sight in the world.

Finally, he gasps.

“Luna, you’re going to love this.”

“What? What?”

“It’s called a Beautiful Sunbird.”

“No way!” Her legs thump against his chest in excitement.

He shakes his head. “I wouldn’t joke about such a thing.”

“And the sun causes rainbows to form! Did you know that?”

“I didn’t.” I’m not sure if he’s telling the truth or just playing dumb.

“Oh, yeah. We just learned about it in school. You see, rainbows form when light from the sun is scattered by raindrops or fog through a process called refraction.”

“Refraction,” Hayden repeats. “Wow. You’re really smart, huh?”

She beams and pushes her nose into the air. “My teacher says I’m mature for my age.”

“Okay!” Now, I have to get in on the action. “Which bird are we looking at.”

My daughter purses her lips before spotting it again. “That one, Mom. That one!”

It takes me a second, as evidenced by the spectacles I donned when he burst into my house with pizza a few nights ago—my eyes also aren’t as young as they once were. But then, I finally see it. She was right, the feathers do resemble a rainbow with their pastel green, blue, yellow, orange, and red colorings.

“Beautiful Sunbird, you said?”

Hayden grins over at me. “Indeed.”

“That’s very fitting.” I cross my arms and continue to watch it fly around.

He glances down at the infographic again.

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