The "Birds for Dubai" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Stopped by the post office in Neffsville, PA to mail some wristbands to Maryland for our granddaughters for Halloween.  Package was over-sized so I thought I better stop by the post office or it will certainly be returned to us.  As I was having my package weighed, in walked a guy and sat a package down on the floor behind me.  I looked, then did a double-take.  Box was labeled "Live Birds."  "What happened to the guy?" I asked Bob, the post office employee.  "He went to get more birds," he said.  OK!  Yep, in he walks with a really big box this time.  My curiosity got the best of me and after paying for my postage I asked the guy what kind of birds were in the boxes.  "Fancy pigeons," he said.  "I got 6 in the small box and 18 in the larger box."  He went on to tell me that they were being mailed to Michigan so that they could be certified by a vet to be disease free, and then they could be mailed out of the country.  I asked him, "Do you have to put food and water in the boxes for the birds?"  "Nah, pigeons can go for days without food or water.  Besides it only takes one day to get to Michigan and then they are fed and given water at the vets.  Then they continue on to Dubai which is another 3 days."  "Dubai?" I said.  He told me that he sends lots of fancy pigeons to Dubai.  The high-ups (whatever that meant) love to show the pigeons and evidently he has quality birds.  "I travel to Dubai with them at times when I have a really expensive bird that they want."  Wow, some guy in Lancaster travels to Dubai to give the bird to some high-up.  I asked him, "Is Dubai as neat as what you see on TV with the high rise and really neat designed buildings?"  "Even better in person," he said.  "Who do you work for?" I asked.  "I work raise the birds myself," he said as he went to his pocket to find a business card, but could find none.  I knew my wife would never believe my story if I told her about a guy I met at the post office who raises birds and sends them to Dubai, and didn't have some kind of proof to show her.  Strange though, she really did believe me.  I guess after all these years she knows I will have a good story for her after returning from the post office.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.