Creative writing submission from the Rest Less community – submit your entry here.
Those of you who regularly read my ditties will know that whilst I love birds, feed them in my garden and are kind to them, I am rather afraid of them. Not afraid in that I see one and go running for the hills – but it’s the flapping. Thus, I’ve been known to squeal hysterically, dipping and ducking like I’m playing aeroplanes if a bird flies too close to me.
I’m not proud of it, in fact, I’ve embarrassed myself on innumerable occasions and wish that I did not make weird, unbidden shrieks and cries combined with erratic, jerking behaviours. But, as I said, I’m not in control of it.
That said, yesterday I took Arthur for a walk before coming home to pootle about in the garden doing chores like watering, deadheading and filling the bird feeders. Once everything was as it should be, I grabbed my book, made a cup of coffee, and went out into the garden to settle myself down for an hour or two of reading.
Thoroughly engrossed, I was oblivious to the fact that someone had me in their sights and it wasn’t until it went dark overhead that I became aware of what was about to happen. A huge (well, huge to me) seagull came gliding down to land only a couple of feet away from me, eyeing my toes. I froze. I was trapped in my chair with my back to the kitchen door and my escape route was being blocked by this enormous bird. I literally went cold and I could feel the fear creeping through me.
Suppressing the mounting panic I slowly put my book down and we carefully watched each other as I considered my options. Beside me I had a cup of hot coffee but could I throw it at him? Never! It would hurt him and he had done me no harm. Could I slowly scrape the chair backwards creating more space where I might stand up, turn and run? I tried but with every inch, I moved the chair backwards, he inched forwards, towards me on his large, pale pink, webbed feet.
Abandoning this, I sat shaking and watching him where, to my surprise, he simply settled himself down, sitting right at my feet and looking up at me. Forced as I was with him in such close proximity, I began to study him and, as I did so, felt myself relaxing.
He was stunningly beautiful and was genuinely such a large bird. His breast was snowy white, the feathers thick and downy. His wings, neatly folded over his back, were the colour of grey skies, the black feathers of his tail like thunder rolling upwards through the clouds and his beak was a pale yellow, the colour of buttercups.
As always with me, I felt seeing how beautiful he was, that my best option was to talk to him…to make friends! “Hello…” I said out loud. “Erm, you might not know this but I’m quite frightened of you. You’re not going to eat my toes are you?” As I spoke, he cocked his head sideways, his eyes looking straight into mine and twinkling.
Seemingly unperturbed by my scrutiny, he closed his eyes and settled himself more comfortably at my feet. Resting a while, whilst I was in limbo, he then began grooming himself, his head and beak clacking as it went over and over himself, preening his back, wings and breast. ‘OK,’ I thought, I’ll just sit and watch for a while.
We must have sat there, him giving himself a thorough clean, me spellbound and frozen in my chair, if somewhat calmer, for nearly twenty minutes. Finally, thoroughly abluted he settled down again, tucked his head under his wing and closed his eyes. I whispered…“OK, my friend. While you have a little sleep, I’m just going to inch my way back to my kitchen. Please don’t flap or wake up as I think I might have a heart attack!”
Carefully and very slowly I rose from my chair only a couple of inches away from his resting form. Using the armrest to steady myself, I gingerly stepped to the side, out of his orbit and like a Hobbit, scurried away and back to the safety of my kitchen. Once safe, my heart back to normal, and I felt mildly embarrassed and cowardly.
He hadn’t hurt me, hadn’t attacked me, just stopped to rest, perhaps desiring a bit of human company. Knowing it was very unwise to feed him, I wasn’t sure how I could cement our friendship but before I could think about it, both dogs appeared and before I could stop them, went out into the garden.
Rushing out behind them to avoid a fracas, I was confronted by an empty space, no resting seagull, no drama waiting to unfold but at that moment I heard a gull call out above me.
Looking up, there was my resting guest standing on the roofline looking at me. I smiled. Giving one last call, he stretched out his enormous wings and took off. Strangely, I felt quite bereft and called after him…”Goodbye, nice to have met you!”
Ila and Arthur looked at me and then at each other, sharing one of those looks that said: “She’s at it again!”
Laughing I gave them both an ear tickle and retrieving my now cold coffee, I went inside to make another one as after all, nobody likes cold coffee!
(I know he was probably a gull and not a seagull but Simon the Gull doesn’t have the same alliteration!)
Are you feeling creative? We are proud to have a hugely talented community on Rest Less, which is why we’re so excited to open up a section of the site dedicated to showcasing the wonderful and diverse writing of our members. If you have a piece of creative writing that you’d like to share with the Rest Less community – you can do so here.