Ronald Rook and the Paper Bag

Ronald Rook and the Paper Bag(Faith Tyler) The first pink rays of the sun peeped through the leaves of the old elm tree. It was morning and Ronald Rook awoke from his sleep, stretched his long wings and started to clean his feathers. They were so shiny and black and he wanted to keep them that way. He poked his beak between each one and removed all the dust bit by bit until all the feathers shone almost as bright as the sun. He would not be able to fly properly if he did not take good care of his feathers. He looked out across the meadow from his perch high up in the old elm tree and wondered what he should do today. He could go into the nearby town and sit up on the church tower or he could fly off across country and see what he could find in the local zoo. He was feeling very hungry and thought that there must be somewhere closer to get his breakfast. YES! He had just remembered the service station on the main road. There were always rich pickings there for a greedy rook if he could get off of his perch early enough. He shook himself, stretched out his wings and stepped off the branch out into space. With a few gentle flaps he rose up into the sky and away he went. The wind was warm and it softly rippled through his feathers as he soared over the few houses on his journey. He quickly covered the distance between his perch and the Services and as he circled the area he spied a large brown paper bag lying on the ground. He also noticed two of his cousins flying round in a circle with their heads in the direction of the brown paper bag. He tightened his circle and slowed his wings hoping to drop to the ground before the others. His feet hit the tarmac and he started to run but the two other rooks arrived at the same time. They all collided with the bag in the middle of them. Beaks and feathers flew as they tore at the bag, each one hoping to get the largest share of the chips that were inside. There was pushing and pecking as the dust rose over the scene until all that could be seen was a dust cloud with feathers and feet sticking out as they rolled around the ground. Out of the cloud flew a very flat cola cup. Next came a small cardboard box torn to shreds. All of a sudden every thing stopped and as the dust settled all that was left of the brown paper bag were a few shreds of paper which blew away in the morning breeze and scattered themselves all over the car park. Ronalds two cousins flapped their wings and took off into the sunlight, they would have to go farther afield to find their breakfast. They should have known better than to take him on in a tussle over food. He was bigger than them. Ronald appeared as the dust drifted away. He shook his feathers and arranged them so that they laid flat again but there was still one sticking out near his tail. He gave one almighty shake and the feather dropped to the ground and so once again Ronald looked his smooth silky self. That was a good breakfast and definitely worth losing a feather for. Satisfied with his mornings work he flapped his wings and once more rose into the morning sky. Now he would head for the church tower and sit up there for a while until he thought of something else to do.