in france, these 2 lovely pigeons were always outside of my bedroom window. i would talk to them, and they would coo at me. when my late father was a boy, he had a pet pigeon named howard, and because i felt a peculiar connection to these pigeons, i called them both “howard.” sometimes i would come home and the howards would actually be IN my bedroom. but they never EVER left droppings, just an occasional feather. one early dawn, i was dreaming about wilma. in my dream we were snuggling and she was lying on my stomach like she so often does. i could actually even feel the weight and heat of her body on my belly. i was in that half dream state, happy but confused, i could feel wilma lying on my stomach but was confused about how she got to france. and then i opened my eyes to discover that a HOWARD was sleeping on my STOMACH !