Forget General Hospital. This is the real story.
Life mimics art. Or art mimics life? Something like that.
I was flipping channels the other day while having some much-needed quiet time and landed on some overly dramatic show where this middle-aged woman is passionately kissing some younger dude in the middle of a hospital waiting room. She shoves him away, says something like "Don't ever do that again" (even though he looked pretty lifeless in their embrace), and NOT TWO SECONDS LATER turns around and is kissing some other guy. This guy looks to be about her age, and I can only assume it's her husband. But older lady is giving younger guy some sketchy glare over older dude's shoulder. Weird.
End scene.
I'm embarrassed to say, I kept watching.
The next scene was two incredibly over-wrought, attractive young people ALSO kissing. There seems to be a lot of smooching at this hospital, which is really not a good idea in a hospital setting -- strange germs and diseases and all. Anyway, a THIRD over-wrought, attractive young person barges into the room and starts monotone-yelling about how she's going to stop her brother once and for all and stabs the guy with a syringe that no doubt has some sort of deadly poison in it seeing as hospitals are in the business of administering deadly poisons intravenously.
Now, replace all of the people in these shenanigans with eagles, and you'll basically have the story of what's going down in Southwest DC.
So here's the premise: "Liberty" the eagle has been with "Justice" for about 15 years now, and the two have lovingly raised several eaglets together. Liberty recently laid two more of Justice's eggs, but here's the drama: Justice is nowhere to be found. It would seem he's become quite the cad and has abandoned his lover after all their blissful years together. Heartbroken, Liberty is left to sit on these eggs all alone.
But then the mysterious Aaron Burrd -- young, strong, and dashing -- shows up in the dead of night (I don't really know if the dead of night part is true. I just threw it in here because this is a soap opera. It was probably raining, too). Cold and alone, Liberty has no choice but to welcome him into her nest, failing to notice his disheveled, injured feet (hold onto this detail -- it becomes important later). But Burrd is a selfish lover, forcing Liberty to have to leave the nest now and then to scavenge for food, leaving her eggs exposed and at risk.
But what does Burrd care? These aren't his eaglets! In fact, without Justice, the eggs are in danger, despite Liberty's efforts to teach Burrd how to love. New males have been known to destroy pre-laid eggs to make room for their own!
And this is where we remember Burrd's mottled feet, leaving us to realize in horror that Burrd has killed Justice! This has been his plan all along to take Liberty for himself. Also, please note that Justice's body has not been recovered, so he may still return for revenge in the season finale cliffhanger.
But, wait! Who's this? Another strapping, young eagle named M2 is vying for Liberty's tragedy-stricken heart. Will these two battle it out? What will become of Liberty's eggs? Can we still hope that Justice will (quite literally) swoop back in to save the day? All this will inevitably not be answered in next week's episode when a new subplot is introduced to confuse all the current ones.
Live eagle cam available here.
Are you Team Justice, Team Burrd, or Team M2? Or maybe you're just Team Liberty? She's a strong, independent eagle that needs no man! Tell us in the comments below!