“Be nice,” Shae whispered. “You promised to make friends with the neighbors.”

“I agree to come to the party and not embarrass you. Nice is a step too far,” Jerry whispered back.

Gordon, their host, tapped his wine glass with a cocktail fork to attract attention. A portly middled-aged white guy in an acid orange and turquoise dashiki, Gordon liked being the center of attention.

“I know you all can’t wait to see my holiday photos. This year, Molly and I splurged on a bird watching trip to Madagascar,” Gordon said, turning to fiddle with his iPhone.

A living room full of neighbors silently sighed. Jerry swore and turned to the front door. Shae elbowed him in the side. Hurriedly, Gordon’s wife Molly pulled down a screen. As quiet as Gordon was loquacious, Molly took the photos and prepared the party fare for Gordon’s travel tales. Someone murmured not again.

Then the photos of birds came. Bright green parakeets with yellow tails, bright green parakeets with black rings, and birds that looked like depressed pigeons, photo after photo of Gordon and birds flicked across the screen. The residents of Weston Lane drank their cocktails and made appreciative noises.

“Wait a minute and go back!” Shae shouted. “There, there, do you see it?”

Shae got closer to the image, studying something in the background. Her husband followed.

“Remember when Stella was going through her save the world phase and she plastered her bedroom with endangered animal posters. I remember this one. It was over her hamper. It’s a dodo. Right behind Gordon’s left calf, a living breathing dodo,” Shae said.

“It looks just like the illustration. I thought they went extinct,” Jerry said, peering closely.

“Hey Lena, your Katie is a biologist. Get her to quit hiding in the bathroom and come get a look at this photo,” Dan said.

Patsy added, “I googled lensed it and it is coming up dodo and the Rodrigues solitaire, which is also extinct. This is absolutely fabulous. Hey Molly come tell us everything about this photo.”

Gordon stammered as his guests nudged him out of the way surrounding Molly and her photo. Chattering guests focused on Molly. Shocked he stared at his wife’s photo, the ultimate birdwatcher’s photo. And Gordon never noticed. On the scene a large slate grey bird with bright yellow talons peered around Gordon’s leg. Despite the bird’s downturned beak, the dodo looked like he was laughing at him.