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Frothy whitecaps bubbled and foamed on top of the windblown
waves. The normally cobalt blue waters of the river were now a chocolate
brown color, as they mixed with the mire and mud on the river bottom.
Payton, the pelican, was fighting for balance as he flew, colliding
against the wind, trying to fly in a straight line, without much success.
The pouch, or bottom part of his long loose beak, flapped back and forth
as the force of the howling wind beat against it. Seeing it was useless
to try to fly any further, Payton headed towards what was left of a
broken-down abandoned wharf. All that was left of it were several
cigar-shaped columns of algae-covered wood, jutting straight out of the
churning water. Payton perched on one of them. The wind wasn’t blowing
quite as hard down at water level.
All the energy he had used flying, had made him feel very
hungry. Payton looked into the murky water. He could see his reflection
now and then, noticing his strong legs and brown feathers. He also could
see fish swimming around, making their way to the surface to scoop up the
bits of decayed vegetation that had been brought up by the agitated
waters. Some fish were golden colored, others olive green, and still
others grayish silver. Payton’s mouth began to water. There were so many
fish and he had them all to himself. There wasn’t another bird in sight.
Payton spread his wings and took off from his wooden
roost. He didn’t want to fly very high up, just enough so that he could
see all the fish from above. He swooped down, opening his mouth as he
descended, so that he could scoop up as many fish as possible. He dove
into the water and caught over a dozen fish in his bill. He tried to fly
away, but couldn’t, as the fish weighed too much. He climbed out of the
water and onto the wooden column again. The fish were wriggling about in
his beak, trying to figure a way out. His pocketed-beak moved from side
to side as the fish darted about, flapping their tails and fins in madness
as they struggled. There were so many fish that several were barely
inside his beak. Payton had to hold his beak tightly shut.
A curious cat was watching Payton in action. He studied
the situation. Here was a big brown pelican, fat, juicy and delicious
looking, and it couldn’t fly. On top of that, its beak was filled with
plump, wriggling fish. The cat hid behind a patch of thick reeds and made
his way towards Payton. He swished his tail back and forth as he made his
way to where the bird perched.
Payton saw the cat coming. Panic overtook him. How was he
going to get away? He tried to flap his wings, but couldn’t move. He knew
he could fly if he let some of the fish go, but he was too hungry to do
that. He jumped off his perch, into the shallow water and started running
up the edge of the river. He waddled clumsily and was just barely into
the water when the cat’s jaws snapped shut, catching one of his tail
feathers in his teeth. Payton ran up the river. The cat turned and ran
away. Cat’s don’t like water.
Payton stood there, trying to catch his breath. Whew! That
was close. The fish were still jumping about, making it difficult for him
to concentrate. One fish actually slipped right out onto the riverbank.
Payton couldn’t open his beak any further to pick it up. He stood
helplessly as the fish wriggled its way deep into the river and to
freedom.
Just then, Payton felt some hot air blowing on his
feathered back. He turned slowly. There stood a huge highland cow. It’s
cavernous mouth agape; it’s tree trunk-like teeth ready to devour him.
Payton gulped, swallowing a few fish in the process. He tried to flap his
wings and take off, but he still had too many fish in his bill to allow
him to fly, so he waddled away, as fast as he could, running through the
shallow water, away from the thirsty cow. He could feel the ground shake
as the cow thudded after him. Payton ran, and ran, and ran, and didn’t
stop until he was sure he was safe.
He stood there, trying to catch his breath. He knew he’d
be able to fly if he’d just let a few of the fish go. But he was too
hungry. Instead, he just gulped a few more down. Another fish slipped
out of his mouth, landing with a thud in a patch of bright red flowers.
It wriggled about and made its way down the muddy bank, into the river and
swam off to safety and freedom.
Payton finally caught his breath. The fish were still
wriggling madly, wanting release, but Payton held his beak tightly shut.
He had just finished gulping down another fish when he heard this grunting
noise behind him. He was terrified, wondering what it might be. Slowly
he turned around. His eyes bulged out, his wings came out to fly away,
but he still couldn’t fly. How was he going to get away from the sheep
dog? It was baring its sharp and dangerous-looking teeth, its eyes had a
burning stare, it looked very hungry, and very fast. Payton flapped and
flapped. He was able to get a few feet off the ground. The sheep dog ran
after him jumping up, trying to catch the delicious-looking pelican in his
greedy jaws, but Payton was able to stay just out of the dog’s grasp.
Several fish fell out of his beak, landing on the dog’s back. Seeing he
would never catch the pelican, the dog stopped and gobbled down the
floundering as Payton escaped.
Payton kept on flying. He couldn’t fly fast and he
couldn’t fly high, but at least he was off the ground. He turned around
to see if anything was chasing him. THUD! He ran right into something.
He fell to the ground. His beak fell open and all the fish flew out all
over the ground. They wriggled about until they made their way down to
the river and into the water. Payton stood up. He must have collided
with a wall. He rubbed his sand-filled eyes with his feathered wings and
saw a mighty black-wool ram standing in front of him. Its enormous curved
horns were pointed right at Payton’s fragile body. Its head was waving
about madly. It was clearly angry with Payton for disturbing him. Payton
stood still for a few moments, not sure what to do. Then, without another
moment’s hesitation, he flapped his wings and flew off into the sky. He
had no more fish in his beak so he could fly way up, into the air, where
he finally felt safe.
The wind had died down a little bit, enough for him to fly
against it quite easily. He turned into the wind and headed towards the
sea, where there are no cats, no highland cows, no sheep dogs and no rams! |
