bird

Four Million Dominos, A Sparrow, An Exterminator

People like to topple dominos, and some people like to topple great long snaking lines of them. So TV crews get involved, people spend a month or more lining the damn things up, and Domino Day becomes an annual event.

Enter sparrow. Sparrow menaces dominos, topples 23,000 of them. Enter exterminator. Exterminator shoots sparrow. Enter news media. Enter public outcry. Enter death threats.

Result: a record 4 million dominos, the sparrow incident is being investigated by a reported seven agencies, and the martyr sparrow has been preserved for display in 2006.