SEARCH FOR THE MISSING LINK

 Not  very  long ago, this blog predicted  the peripatetic   photographer  Vallis would   suffer an  injury because  he  is   always  running  around  taking  snaps of   butterflies,  blossoms , birds,  bees ,wallabies ,  snakes , lizards , the   Moon , sunrise ,  sunset  ,  panoramic  vistas, even intruding on the domain of  the Shipping Reporter  . Well,  it   happened .  Due  to  all   the  galloping about ,  a  vital  part   of   his  body  fell  off - the   left  ear  hearing  aid .

This   led  to  shouting  and  some   heated  words  on   his   domestic  front ; in  the  Little Darwin den, it  was  hard  to  converse  with   him  because of  his  deafness  brought  on   by  yet  another  senior's moment .  

An  alert   for  the missing link was  posted throughout  the  island . Vallis was  seen  stumbling about  , head  down, examining  the  ground as if  looking  for  the  fabled  Lasseter's  Lost   Reef.

For a time , he felt the hearing aid , which  looks like a  mutated  witchetty grub,  could  have been devoured  by  a  hungry Curlew , which  he  regularly snaps . Still working , but fuzzy , the  hearing  aid  could  be  stuck inside a  troubled  Curlew, below,  picking  up   Radio  Mad Moscow .

Vallis  tottered  down  to  the waterfront ,where  he had been  snapping    rock wallabies ,  in the  hope of  finding  the missing    device .  A  friendly  wallaby suggested it could  have   fallen down the sink hole  shown in  the  following   photograph .

   

Some   nearby  noisy plovers   poked their  beaks into the   conversation between  Vallis and   the  rock hoppers ;  one  helpful bird , below ,  began  searching high and  low  for  the   damned  elusive ( scarlet pimpernel ?)  hearing   gadget   along  the  beach .    

As the  search dragged on Vallis  did  not shave   and he  presented  the grizzled  appearance  of  a  beach bum who  decades ago should have received  a  special  card   from  the  Queen , Lizzie Two-Stroke ,  to  mark  his  100th  birthday.

Traversing his  own backyard  for  the umpteenth time , looking for  the  hearing aid , he  found a pair of  reading  glasses  he  had been looking  for  under  the   clothesline.  Another senior's moment !

 

.Eureka !!! While   feeding  Curlews , he happened  to  glance  down  and there  was  the  hearing aid , a  bit dusty, still working,  hopefully not having passed  through  a  bird's  digestive system ..