juvenile cardinal

 

Ruben was going through a tough transition from kid to adult.  He had the size, and he could fly (though his father complained that flight insurance for inexperienced teens was horribly expensive), but the hardest part was the scruffy look as his feathers slowly  turned full red, and his voice changed from childish cheeps to someone to reckon with.  Instinctively he knew, in spite of the pent up desire, he was not exactly a chick magnet . . . .  David, Sf.G.