Part 1: Tommy

Part 1: TOMMY

 ---

Decision destroys suspense, and suspense
is the charm of existence.                                            
                                              ---Benjamin Disraeli

 ---

SLY, observant red vixen, a she-fox,
had noticed over several days
that early-riser black squirrel routinely
visited backyard's concrete patio deck
of a morning to munch thrown-out
sunflower seeds that snugly homed
in their form-fitting little shells. 

All of which suggested to red vixen
the barest outline of a mighty fine recipe
for action:

Go at first light to patio, wait in hiding
for black squirrel to busy himself
munching on scattered seeds
lying thereon, and then vixen could
ambush in a furious rush 
and demolish---

and then make
a tasty meal of---

by then thoroughly surprised
black squirrel. 

In
that
order. 

So it was that red fox began to act
on her clever plan. But of course
black squirrel, being, as usual, 
nobody's fool, suspected such might
occur on this particularly grand sunshiny
morning. He wisely stayed away
to accomplish other things on
his heavily trafficked, impossibly
crowded to-do list. 

After much less-than-patient
loitering behind tree at patio's
perimeter, red vixen, frustrated
by her persistent poor luck
at capturing black squirrel, stepped
boldly forward, crouched low
in midpatio, bushy tail gently laid
next to flat on its hard surface,

and
began to crunch-munch
sunflower seeds by herself. 

As a practical matter, something
was better than nothing. A breakfast,
even a skimpy one, was preferable
to coping with a fully emptied gurgly
stomach.

 Or so red vixen thought. 

(to be continued in Part 2)