First draft of a story I wrote for one of my newer classes.


College early 2011

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CJ Hyde
Birds eye view.

The sun slowly rose over my tree in the early hours of the morning, but I was already awake as the metal dogs had begun barking their way along the hot blackness. The flesh dogs were also out with their odd tall dog friends in their bright colors and seeming life providing white ear strings. But all of this was still annoying as it always woke me up too early. At least the metal dogs seemed to go into hibernation every five days, but it never lasted. Always letting me think they were done before barking up my tree again.
Sitting back in the collection of stately twigs I tried to get a little more sleep, but squawks and a loud bang made me hop to the side to look over. Two of the metal dogs had hit each other, and the tall dogs were clambering out of the ears and beginning to squawk at each other. It was clear that the short one from the dog in front wouldn’t last long; he didn’t have his ear strings in. The one from the back car had them in very deep though, and the short tall dog was flailing his featherless arms at them in the others head and raising his squawking to a louder level as they gestured back and fourth.
This meant of course that sleep would now be beyond my talonted grasp. Rolling my neck a little I hopped up the edge of my noble nest and slowly leaned forward until I began to fall. Spreading my majestic wings I aimed for a spot just between the two crashed metal dogs and slid right between them, distracting the one with the strings enough for the short one to yank them out. These dogs were certainly violent if they were willing to pull the plug on each other like that…
Regardless, off I flew toward the breakfast spot. During this early time it was generally empty from the dogs in all shapes. Maybe the large glowing M was a deterrent until it was bright enough outside for the glow to not be so bright. Slowly gliding over the warm air from the black hotness I made my way toward the M, some of my fellows joining me in the journey to our normal food spot. I only gave them a little nod, trying to ignore their attempts at trying to have a discussion. Such trivialities were beneath me when the goal of food was on the mind.
Eventually they stopped trying such futile attempts as the M came into view. Flapping to get a little more height I tilted my wings a little to begin circling over the large building. As I scoped out the outside for food sources I spotted several black shapes below me already…That was odd. Folding myself in closer I dove down to get a better look, opening again once I reached the M itself to land on top and take stock of what was happening on ground level. I only gave an annoyed squawk to what my eyes fell upon.
It was that bully Crawl and his murder gang with him. I didn’t even have to ask to know that they wouldn’t let me near the golden sustenance. But I sat on the sign, just watching them until Crawl looked up from his stolen feast to me. I should have thought that blue would stand out against the yellow, but I didn’t, I was too filled with anger to notice a thing like that. At least I noticed him lift off and head toward me before he was upon me. Quickly hopping back off the M sign I opened one of my wings to attempt a quick turn around then the other to fly away quickly, Crawls death caws ringing after me as I flapped away to gain distance between the murder of crows and myself.
Once I was confident I was far enough away I looked back enough to see that they had left me alone this time. Slowing down a little I felt the lack of weight in my stomach, a new search was on for another source of food. Crawl had sure been up early to reach the M before I did…Maybe that’s what my fellows were trying to tell me as I flew, no; they were to simple to learn that before me. Spotting some of the tall dogs in a field I dropped slowly down toward them, they seemed to just bleed out food and leave it everywhere, often only in small quantities but food was food right now.
Flapping down to land on one of their odd wood creations they often sat and flapped their jaws about I watched some small ones throw a perfectly good ball away to the other, then back to the first. As if they couldn’t decide who should keep it. Looking away to other parts of the field for some food I could only spot light perch posts and the young dogs. But one of them turned and saw me, the ball heading back toward him just missing smacking him in the side of the head. Shouting and pointing toward me I started to flap my wings to lift off the wood before I noticed him reach over to a bag and pull out some bread. Tilting my head a little as he walked forward with a big smile plastered on his stupid face he stopped just before the structure I was perched on and set the bread on the wood.
I made sure to keep my eyes on him as I hopped down to the lower part of the seat and moved toward the food. Normally I wouldn’t take food from these primitive dogs but it was now nearing midday and the weightless in my stomach was getting very distracting. The dog was just standing a little back, hands clasped together as he watched, eyes wide in apart amazement of the simple act of feeding. These dogs really were simple and easy to please. But regardless I quickly started pecking at the food; it tasted old, older then the M food normally tasted. But at least there were no crows around here to stop me from enjoying it.
The boy just clapped and squealed, running off toward a tree and bringing an older dog out. Returning to my food I could just see him out of the corner of my eye taking some more bread from his bag and moving toward me again, towing the older dog along with his other hand. This time he held it out to me, not setting it down. He certainly did seem interested in me enough to risk his hand, or maybe he was just that thick. Hopping to the side of the wood once the first bread was finished I crouched low to keep the dogs in view as I made my move toward the food. Quickly pecking at the bread I opened my beak a little to grab more of the bread as I speared straight through the old stuff, the young dog shouting out and pulling his hand away. But because of some clever beakwork I managed to grab the bread with my beak and pull it away from him.
Not spending any extra time to enjoy my victory I quickly jumped off the wood and took several flaps to take top the air before the older dog could do anything to stop me taking the prize away. I didn’t even need to look back after I was out of reach to hear the screams of the young and comforting of the old, but the fool should have just dropped the food when he had the chance.
Heading toward one of the trees at the edge of the field I flew past several until I found one that was vacant. Depositing my bread on the branch I began pecking in earnest until I could feel the comforting feel of fullness again. Letting the pieces of bread that I didn’t want fall toward the grass as I clung to the branch, settled in my feathers, and sat for a little. In the distance I could hear the quiet squeaks and squawks of chicks, I never understood the chick thing that so many of my fellows had fallen for, though they never commented on my chick magnet ability I was glad I wasn’t such, would keep the nest more clean.
I must have dozed off in the cooling breeze because when I awoke it was nearing dusk. Falling off the branch then flapping away I headed back to my nice empty nest, blinking a little but then continuing. Thinking a little back to the young dog, but then just looking straight ahead again, the crying just wasn’t worth it. What was more pressing was finding a way to too wake up earlier and beat Crawl to the M. His murder couldn’t be beaten when it was just me, but if I was earlier, I could get the good food without trouble.