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** Magpies **
*** On Patrol
***
by Bobby Mac
part 6 of 13 ( On Patrol
)
It was decided at the meeting that the bigger birds, such
as the Seagulls
and Blackbirds, would go down for the food and
drop it into the grass
under the bushes and trees, where the
younger and smaller birds could
eat in relative safety. The
elders of the smaller bird varieties said they
would patrol
around the ground, making sure everyone was fed. Sasha
and
Caesar the two big German Shepherd dogs were going to
patrol
around the feeding table. Charlie Drake and Matilda Duck
were going
to keep lookout around the sides of the house to
warn when the Magpies
were coming, they even devised a secret
quack especially for Smokey
and Shadow the two grey cats to
hear. When the cats heard the secret
signal they were to
scamper up the trees and mark out where the Magpies
had made
their nests and to count how many there were.
The animals knew
it would take two or three days for all the information
to be
gathered, but they knew they had to be sure of all the facts
before
they could put the next part of their plan into
action.
So for the next three days the big birds collected the
food and dropped it
for the little ones and the other animals
stood guard. If any of the birds
were still hungry at the end
of the day, Matilda Duck and Charlotte Hen
saved some of their
food that Granny had given them and then shared it out.
As each
day passed the Magpies got more and more frustrated, and more
and
more hungry.
By the fourth morning all the Magpie nests had
been marked out, and
while the big birds dropping food to the
small and young birds. If any
of the Magpies had taken the
trouble to look, they would have seen that
Sinbad Seagull was
not in his usual spot leading the food drop, instead,
he was in
fact guiding Smokey and Shadow, the two grey cats, who were
busily
running around with little packages which were being hidden
by
Tigger and young Max. Matilda Duck and Charlie Drake were
still
on sentry duty, waiting to quack loudly if the Magpies
started to head
for their nests, luckily, Smokey and Shadow had
finished their tasks
and were well hidden in the mock orange
blossom hedge before the
Magpies came back from their search
for food, which again proved
to be a waste of
time.
*****
Copyright: Bobby Mac, June
2003
Published: www.tardemstudios.co.nz - 27th. October 2004
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*****
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