Nichola Cavalier
cream soda
Early
one bright sunny summer’s morning, Stone the crow was perched at the top of the
very highest tree in Willow Wood. Stone would see for miles and miles.
It was
the start of the summer holidays.
Hooray,
he thought, no school for weeks and weeks. No more adding up. No more algebra.
No more spelling and best of all, no more Latin.
But very
best of all, no more teachers telling him to sit up straight and stop pecking
his desk.
What
shall I do today, he said to himself as he stretched his wings and preened
himself. As he looked across the tops of the trees he could see fields in the
distance. They were like a patchwork quilt and right in the corner was a rather
tumble down farm.
Farmer
Jethro’s farm, a place Stone knew well. He’d been there many times before.
Crows
weren’t welcome there as Stone was well aware. But he did have one rather
unlikely friend there, Mr. Godfrey.
Mr
Godfrey was a scarecrow!
On the
one hand he knew Mr Godfrey would like to see Stone and have a chat. It was a
lonely life being a scarecrow, standing there in the middle of a field day
after day, in all weathers with nobody to talk to.
However,
a scarecrow was supposed to scare the birds away not stand there chatting to them.
But
unfortunately, Mr Godfrey did like to chat.
About
all sorts of things, the weather, which way the wind was blowing, the colour of
the sky and the shape of the clouds. Whether a storm was brewing.
Important
things like that!
So off
Stone flew, skimming the tops of the trees, letting the wind, which was blowing
rather conveniently in the direction of Farmer Jethro’s farm, carry him along
with as little effort from Stone as possible.
Crows
didn’t like to use too much energy when they were flying, let the wind do the
work. That’s what all young crows were taught.
As usual
Mr Godfrey was standing right in the middle of the largest field. This year
Farmer Jethro was growing mangel wurzles. Mr Godfrey was whistling a happy tune
to himself when suddenly Stone appeared and landed all of a flutter on one of
his outstretched arms.
‘Hello
Mr Godfrey’, said Stone, ‘How are you today?
Being a
scarecrow, Mr Godfrey didn’t have many feathered friends. He definitely
wouldn’t talk to rooks, they were so noisy and badly behaved and he didn’t mind
scaring them away.
And
those pesky Jackdaws, well they just didn’t know how to behave at all.
But
Stone, well he wasn’t such a bad fellow. And he always visited Mr Godfrey by
himself. Crows tended to be solitary folk and kept themselves to themselves. A
bit like Mr. Godfrey.
Still Mr
Godfrey looked around rather nervously to make sure Farmer Jethro wasn’t
anywhere to be seen. After all if he was caught chatting to birds instead of
scaring them away, he would be sacked. And with no job what would he do. There
weren’t that many openings for scarecrows these days.
‘Hello
Stone,’ said Mr Godfrey, speaking very quietly. He didn’t want to take any
chances. Farmer Jethro had a habit of just turning up without warning. But
that’s farmers for you. They just couldn’t be trusted as far as a scarecrow was
concerned.
Stone
noticed that Mr Godfrey was wearing a rather fine but extremely frayed and moth
eaten red waistcoat. It was decorated with fine silver braid and pearly buttons
that shone in the sunshine. But it had seen better days. No doubt about that.
‘That’s
a lovely waistcoat you’ve got there,’ said Stone ‘What bright and beautiful
colours’
‘Yes’
said the scarecrow ‘Farmer Jethro’s granddaughter dressed me in it yesterday,
she thought the bright colours might help me keep the birds away.’
‘Mmmm’
said Stone admiring the fine workmanship, ‘I bet it cost a lot of money when it
was new’.
The fact
that the waistcoat hadn’t kept him away he kept to himself!
Mr.
Godfrey puffed his chest out with pride. ‘ Do you think it suits me, I do like
to look smart.’
Stone
wasn’t so sure about the scarecrow looking ‘smart’. I mean scarecrows just
don’t look smart in their hand me down clothes, do they.
Mr
Godfrey’s hat was an old trilby, full of holes and covered in stains. His
jacket and trousers were in rags and barely covered his straw-filled arms and
legs. But he did have a rather trendy white and red spotted scarf around his
neck. And of course that lovely ‘new’ waistcoat!
‘You
always look very smart to me,’ said Stone not wishing to offend his friend. And
it certainly had been an exceptionally fine waistcoat – once.
Suddenly
Mr Godfrey, started whispering, loudly,’ Oh dear, oh dear, oh deary me’
‘What’s
a matter Mr Godfrey, said Stone ‘ have you lost a button off your ‘new’
waistcoat??
‘Oh
dear, oh goodness me,’’ said Mr Godfrey
‘Whatever
is the matter, said Stone
‘It’s
Farmer Jethro, he’s in the next field, he’s coming to check his mangel
wurzels,’ said Mr Godfrey all of a bother.
Stone
looked round. He could just make out the farmer’s hat above the hedge. Time to
leave he thought.
‘You
can’t fly away now,’ said the scarecrow ‘ He’ll see you and I’ll be an
out-of-work scarecrow, and then what will I do, you’ll have to hide.’
Hide,
thought Stone. Hide where???He was in the middle of a field of mangel wurzels
and he was far too big and black to hide behind them. There was nowhere for a
crow to hide. Nowhere!!
‘Don’t
panic Mr Godfrey, don’t panic, said Stone in a very panicky sort of way, ‘I’ll
think of something.’
By now
Farmer Jethro had arrived at the gate that led into the field of mangel
wurzles.
With no
time to think, Stone squeezed himself behind Mr Godfrey’s threadbare waistcoat.
But his beak, which was rather large, stuck out through one of the torn button
holes.
Would
Farmer Jethro notice??
Stone
and Mr Godfrey both held their breath as the farmer approached.
‘Don’t move
a feather, Mr Godfrey whispered
Farmer
Jethro came up to the scarecrow. Fortunately for Mr Godfrey and Stone he was
extremely short sighted and wore glasses with the thickest lens you’ve ever
seen.
‘ I hope
you’re keeping all those pesky crows away,’ he said to the scarecrow in his
most serious, gruff, farmer’s way ‘ Don’t want them pecking away at my mangel
wurzels.’
‘No
cccrows here,’ stuttered an extremely nervous Mr Godfrey.
Right
now Stone’s beak suddenly seemed to be the biggest beak in the whole wide
world. Possibly in the whole Universe. And
beyond.
But the
farmer didn’t notice and seemed satisfied that there wasn’t a bird in sight.
Well a least not within his sight! Then without another word – he never had
much to say, did Farmer Jethro, he was the stern and silent type – he ambled
away across the field back towards the farmhouse.
‘You
better go quickly now, said Mr Godfrey ‘ he might come back, we’ll have a
proper chat another day.’
Stone
didn’t need to be asked twice. Crows and farmers just didn’t get on.
In his
hurry to get away Stone tried to flap his wings. But the more he flapped, the
more he became entangled in Mr. Godfrey’s waistcoat.
Suddenly
there was a terrible ripping tearing sound.
But at
last Stone was free. As he soared into the sky he took most of the waistcoat
with him. Mr Godfrey’s pride and joy was stuck firmly on Stone’s beak and
trailed behind him like a bright red, sparkly streamer.
Mr
Godfrey cried out,’ Bring my waistcoat back, bring my beautiful waistcoat back
this minute.’
But Stone
decided that it was best if he headed straight home as fast as possible. So he
flew back towards Willow Wood with Mr Godrfrey’s ‘new’ waistcoat streaming out
behind him glittering in the bright sunshine. No matter how he shook his head,
he couldn’t free himself from the waistcoat.
Near
Willow Wood, the Fox family was enjoying a picnic. The little Foxes were
bounding about chasing each other’s tails, as very young foxes are prone to do.
Mr and Mrs Fox just lay in the grass sunning themselves. It really was a
beautiful day.
‘What’s
that,’ said Jemina Fox looking up at the sky ‘What’s that in the sky.’
Mr Fox
looked up and saw Stone, now resembling a blazing comet in the sky, Mr
Godfrey’s treasured waistcoat in tatters catching the sun’s rays and glistening
brightly as it trailed behind.
‘What is
it ‘ said all the foxes together.
Mr Fox
who liked to think he knew everything was stuck for an answer. He didn’t know
what it was.
Suddenly
he had a brainwave.
‘It’s a
UFO’, he said with great conviction.
‘What’s
a UFO?,’ the two little foxes asked excitedly.
‘It’s an
unidentified flying object,’ said Mr Fox
‘What’s
an unidentified flying object?’ the two little foxes asked
‘It’s
something flying around in the sky and nobody knows what it is.’ Said Mr Fox
That
seemed to satisfy the little foxes, who started chasing each others’ tails
again.
Next
day, Mr Crow was reading the Willow News and splashed right across the front
page was ‘UFO sighted over Willow Wood’
‘Well I
never said,’ said Mr Crow ‘The Foxes saw a UFO over Willow Wood, you were out
and about yesterday did you see it Stone??
‘No’
said Stone thinking what was he going to do about Mr Godfrey’s treasured
waistcoat, now nothing more than a few brightly coloured threads dangling from
various branches in Willow Wood.
‘What is a UFO? Stone asked
ENDS
DID YOU
KNOW ?…
Bird scarers
In the
olden days, young boys used to be employed to scare crows and rooks away from
the fields. Bird scarers as they were called existed for nearly 2000 years
until the early 20th century.
Mangelwurzels
A large
white, yellow or orange-yellow vegetable grown as food for farm animals. In
some parts of the country, Punkie Night is celebrated on the last Thursday of
October every year, when children carry lanterns called ‘Punkies’ which are
hollowed out mangelwurzels
Unidentified flying objects
Unidentified
flying objects – or UFOs as they are usually known –
Unexplained aerial
observations have been reported throughout history. Some were undoubtedly comets, bright meteors, one or more of the five planets that
can be seen with the naked eye.
An example is Halley's
Comet, which was recorded first by Chinese
astronomers in 240 BC and possibly as early as 467 BC. Such sightings
throughout history often were treated as supernatural portents, angels, or other religious omens.
Have you ever seen
one??
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