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- Story Listed as: True Life For Teens
- Theme: Friendship & Family
- Subject: Nature & Wildlife
- Published: 05/10/2019
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Blackbird.
We are lucky to have many birds that visit our garden. Among these is a blackbird that has declared this territory his own. He sits anywhere high up and looks down on his patch. If any other Blackbird passes within his mentally encompassed boundaries he chases them off with an over the top display of aggression and noise and much shaking of the feathers.
I love him.
Every morning I open the front door to feed him scraps and proper food.
The door has a little bell that swings when the door opens and he, my friend, always hears it no matter how far away he might be.
As time goes by he trusts me more (the same as us people).
I begin to talk to him.
We enjoy each other’s company.
I sit in our bay window reading the paper and he sees me and perches on the top of the old seat outside. Just looking and preening.
Next day I go to the garage and am taken aback to see him lying against the garage door with his
wings spread out in the noon day sun. The little dot of his eye still but focused on me.
I walk gently towards him and say.
‘Hello my friend how are you today?’
He remains static. I start to worry. Blackbirds and other feathered friends often spread themselves out like this to let the sun’s ultra violet rays kill little itchy parasites. Hopefully this is what he is doing.
I don’t want to go any closer and wait. He is trance like with the sun and then comes out of it with a sudden flourish and flies off.
By now we are quite attached, bird to man, and I look out for him every day.
Then I am woken in the morning with something I can’t put my mind on. Something not right.
Looking out of my bedroom window I see next doors cat, who is also a friend, parading across the lawn to our front door with a trophy in his mouth – my Blackbird!
I dash down, open the front door and shout.
‘Scat. Scat, Scat’
Then clap my hands loudly and urgently.
My Blackbird is dropped. I run over to him. He has a major wing feather hanging loose.
He is motionless.
His little bright eye looks OK and seems to be focused on me.
Then with a massive flourish he shakes everything. Looks to me and flies off.
Just a little lop sided though.
Blackbird(Ossie Durrans)
Blackbird.
We are lucky to have many birds that visit our garden. Among these is a blackbird that has declared this territory his own. He sits anywhere high up and looks down on his patch. If any other Blackbird passes within his mentally encompassed boundaries he chases them off with an over the top display of aggression and noise and much shaking of the feathers.
I love him.
Every morning I open the front door to feed him scraps and proper food.
The door has a little bell that swings when the door opens and he, my friend, always hears it no matter how far away he might be.
As time goes by he trusts me more (the same as us people).
I begin to talk to him.
We enjoy each other’s company.
I sit in our bay window reading the paper and he sees me and perches on the top of the old seat outside. Just looking and preening.
Next day I go to the garage and am taken aback to see him lying against the garage door with his
wings spread out in the noon day sun. The little dot of his eye still but focused on me.
I walk gently towards him and say.
‘Hello my friend how are you today?’
He remains static. I start to worry. Blackbirds and other feathered friends often spread themselves out like this to let the sun’s ultra violet rays kill little itchy parasites. Hopefully this is what he is doing.
I don’t want to go any closer and wait. He is trance like with the sun and then comes out of it with a sudden flourish and flies off.
By now we are quite attached, bird to man, and I look out for him every day.
Then I am woken in the morning with something I can’t put my mind on. Something not right.
Looking out of my bedroom window I see next doors cat, who is also a friend, parading across the lawn to our front door with a trophy in his mouth – my Blackbird!
I dash down, open the front door and shout.
‘Scat. Scat, Scat’
Then clap my hands loudly and urgently.
My Blackbird is dropped. I run over to him. He has a major wing feather hanging loose.
He is motionless.
His little bright eye looks OK and seems to be focused on me.
Then with a massive flourish he shakes everything. Looks to me and flies off.
Just a little lop sided though.
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JD
07/28/2019I loved this short story about your blackbird 'friend'. I'm glad that it survived your neighbor's cat, and hope that it is still coming to visit, albeit more cautiously out of reach. Congratulations on being selected as one of the Short Story STARS of the Week, Ossie. Thanks for sharing your short stories on Storystar.
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JD
07/28/2019Ossie, of course you're a writer. You write. Therefore you are a writer. You simply have an 'off the top of your head' writing style, and you think as you write.... :-)
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Ossie Durrans
06/03/2019Thank you for commenting. I'm not really a writer, it just comes out without thought!
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Kevin Hughes
05/10/2019Aloha Ossie,
We had a pigeon (Lazy Tweety) who would sit near any of us and let us feed him. But...he only landed on My Kathy's shoulder to perch. My daughters tried for months to get him to sit on their shoulders...but no way. He would walk down Kathy's arms to get the food the kids offered - but he would never walk up their arms, or perch on their shoulders.
If Kathy was at work, or doing errands, he would flutter down from his tree and let you hand feed him, but he wouldn't perch on your shoulder or arm. Then one day he flew away. I think he found a Kathy in his own species. He was a wild pigeon, we found him as a chick on our back deck (we lived in a house back then, not an apartment).
He lived in a big tree in our backyard, and anytime we were out on the deck, he would come to feed, or maybe enjoy the company. Somewhere I have a picture of Kathy feeding him as he sat on her shoulder. I don't need it, as your story brought the memory back as clear as day.
Smiles< Kevin
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Ossie Durrans
05/11/2019Thank you for your comment Kevin. Strangely I was cleaning the upstairs windows on the top of a ladder when a wild pigeon landed on my shoulder and stayed until I finished!
COMMENTS (5)