The Crow Capers - part 6

Arrived just in time for the end? To see the whole story, click on the Crow Capers label on the side-bar to see them all on one page!

There was an extended moment of silence and indeed stillness, as each of the Crows took into consideration the turn of events.

Colin now recalled that 'Clive' was the flashy boy from the hotel side of the fencinnade - the very fellow with whom  Cara didn't want their son Clarence to be keeping company.  The one who had taught their son to bait the brahmacharins and to allow himself be made the live target for feather-tag practice. Clive, who seemed to take a special interest in their son and did not appear to understand the meaning of 'no'.

Clarence watched his father closely.  When he'd brought the matter up, he had not entirely thought it through. Now he too was starting to build a picture which was somewhat disconcerting.

Cara saw her boys working on the equation and decided to take action.  With an enormous flurry worthy of any Bollywood Starling, she went into a wild and athletic dance.  Her head moved from side to side so fast it became a blur and her shoulders moved up and down to a rhythm only she could hear.  Her tail feathers spread and her chest expanded beneath her glistening black throat.

Cara became a thing of great beauty and might.

 

Clarence looked away abashed.  "Aww muuuuum, don't do that in public pleeassseee".

Colin raised himself to full stature and demanded, "Cara Chandni Crow, is Clarence my son or is he the product of another's game?"

For a few moments longer, Cara continued her dance, then gradually settled her feathers and stood as close to Colin as she could.  Making small, almost mewling sounds, she began to tickle him under the beak with her own rather prominent feature.

"Stop that now and answer me!" squawked Colin. Cara took a step away.

"Clarence IS your son Colin - but I admit it was nearly not the case.  That smooth-flyer Clive came over one day and started on with all his flashy capering and because you had been rather withdrawn and  - well, let's face it - inattentive for some time, I found his company rather fun.  Then I noticed he was spending way too much time with the youngsters on the ashram and leading them astray with all that dive-bombing and such.  I realised he had used me just to gain a foothold on the territory.  That was about the time you got over yourself and began being a proper mate again."

Clarence was cringing and attempting to turn so as to take off from this confession scene.  Colin called out "You just stay where you are young man!"

Colin then turned and spoke to his mate. "Cara, you are the only crow for me.  There is no other. Despite his sillyness and slobiness, I also love Clarence.  This has been a wake up call for us all I think you will agree.  Cara, will you promise me that you will never bring up the name of Clive again?"  Cara eagerly nodded.  "Clarence, do you promise not to keep his company or that of any of the other hoons here-abouts? "  Clarence, a little reluctantly, nodded also.

"Then you come with me now and I will initiate you into tail-tagging the eagles.  Is that a deal?"

Clarence's head popped up.  Dad teaching him what the others would not.  Of course it was a deal!

Balance and normality was restored to the fencinnade.

©Yamini Ali MacLean 2013

Hope you enjoyed these silly little capers. Prompted purely from watching the crow family right outside my room window at Sandeepany. It was the same family every day; they are very territorial and full of character. Several of the events mentioned are true. Including having 'Clarence' land in my arms!

The Crow Capers - part 5

Click on the Crow Capers label button  on the side-bar to catch up on missed episodes!

Clarence gulped and shook out his feathers.  He recognised the situation all too well.  His parents had been arguing and he was being made the scapegoat.

Okay, so he did go down the track a little too fast now and then. Yes, he did allow the other crows to practice their feather-drawing attack plans on him.  ...all in all he had to admit he was everybody's whipping boy, including for his folks.

"I may not be able to face up to chasing eagles like the others, but at least I help them get expert by practicing on me first!"  was the lame retort he had for Colin's accusation and not-so-veiled threats.  Dancing from leg to leg in his discomfort he blurted out, "and at least I don't let some woman keep calling me other names all the time!"

Colin glared at his son for a short, but very hard, moment. He was prepared to go into defence of his wife, but Cara's head popped up and her eyes beaded them both. Colin tried to find a friend in the distance. Cara was perfectly capable of defending herself.

"WHAT?!"

Clarence shuffled. His mother's wrath was quite something to behold. Then he heard the parrots having a cackle at his and Colin's expense.

"HARHARHAHRHHAHRHHARHHH - do you hear that Preity?  That Cara has been calling Colin all the names in the neighbourhood again!  HARHAHHRHHARHHHAHRHAHRHAR - does she play with more than one then?  Look out Colin, Clive might make a dive!!"

Colin stared up at the parrots then back at Cara.  "Who is Clive?"

Cara threw her head back and gave a long, dry, hard cackle.  "I don't knooooooooowwwwwwww!"

Colin pondered for a while.  In the heat of the argument, he knew that Cara would use his full names; but sometimes, he remembered now, she would get it wrong. But who was Clive? He swallowed with difficulty.  Slowly it was dawning on  him.  He looked at Cara.  Then at Clarence, who tried to look as nonchalant as possible. "Wait, isn't Clive that idiot you hang around with son?"

…tbc!  Come back Thursday for the conclusion of the Crow Capers, where-in Colin comes to terms, Cara makes amends and Clarence kow-tows!

© Yamini Ali MacLean 2013

The Crow Capers - part 4

Click on the Crow Capers label button  on the side-bar to see them all on one page!

It began last Monday. We met the Crow family, Colin, his missus, Cara, and the source of some ire to them, their son Clarence (stage right). The young 'un is a typical youth, enjoying the fast life. According to Cara, Colin is as much to blame for it as the boy. They argued and Colin had a brush with an auto. He was fine. The same could not be said for the stick. Colin now faces up to his paternal duty...

After repeated cawing from the father, the wayward son finally appeared on the fencinnade in a flurry of disordered feathers.  Colin, having been energised by his brush with the auto, got stuck in.

"Clarence Chetu Crow you are in sooooooooooooooooooooo much trouble!"

Clarence tried to interrupt, but his father was in full flight of fury.

"All that buzzing brahmacharins and banking along the Ananda Track is causing a lot of talk in the neighbourhood.  You and those three loons from the hotel side are cutting things way too fine. You think all humans are like that amma you colided with? Not at all, most just barely tolerate us. I've heard the ashram humans are getting very jittery and there is talk of bringing in exterminators for troublesome teenagers."

At this comment Cara gulped and glanced sideways at her mate.  He fluttered his wing against hers lightly in the crow version of a wink.  Cara returned to her ongoing task of pulling sticks.

"Exterminators?" quavered Clarence.

"Exterminators - yes!  Men with great big nets and cages and ...and…"  Colin looked around for inspiration; what was Clarence most afraid of? "...and eagles.  Trained eagles.  Trained to chase and take down crazy crows."  He looked at his mate.  Cara was close to having a fit of the giggles.  Instead she worked harder at the piece of vine she had been pulling for the last ten minutes.

"Eagles?" asked Clarence, his voice even more tremulous now.

"YES!  Just like that one!" said Colin, indicating somewhere over and behind Clarence's head.  The young bird fluttered his wings and puffed his ruffled chest somewhat before taking a deep breath and turning round.

High in the tree behind him was a Black Kite.  Staring  straight back at him.

"AWWWWKKKKKKK!"  He couldn't help himself.

Colin shrugged and looked away. 

"This might actually be working!" he thought to himself.

…tbc!  Come back tomorrow for the Crow Capers part 5, where-in Colin listens to lame excuses, a cackling Cara and the prattle of parrots...

 © Yamini Ali MacLean 2013

The Crow Capers - part 3

Did you miss the beginning?  It'll set the scene for you…  we can wait… use the Crow Capers label.

Colin stands stage left; Cara launches her tirade

Cara was not best pleased. Indeed, to say that the few moments after the dropping of the stick were thunderous in their silence would not be overly dramatic.

Colin was doing his manly best not to cower, but it was clear he was wishing to be anywhere other than on the fenccinade right about now.  Without doubt, he'd had better days.  Glancing sideways at his mate, he prepared himself for the inevitable flow of abuse that was about to be cawed upon him.

Cara, oh so gently and slowly, lifted one wing then the other, rearranged them over her back and looked around the area as if simply assessing the weather.  Then she stretched her neck and let loose. He knew it was serious. She went the full name.

"Colin Chandra Crow, you are possibly the most inept and useless male on this entire side of the lake!  Cwentin Chaitan wanted to mate with me, but ooohhh nooo, I had to go for the fastest flyer!  Mother warned me, 'the flashy ones are often too proud to help out', but oooohhhh nooo, I knew better!  Father said, 'take him and you'll repent my girl', but oooooohhhhh nooooooo, daddy was under my claw and finally said, 'go for it!'  Now I can't even get a decent stick out of you… ooh wooeeeeee,, oh woooeeeeeee,,, ohhhh woooeeoeeeeeeeee……….."

She paused for breath and another slow dance of the wings.

Colin didn't give her a chance to start again.  In a flash of feathers he took a dive over the edge - onto the danger side of the fenccinade.  Cara gasped and peered after him.  "Colin!  What ARE you doing?"

"Stick?"  Colin muttered back up at her from the road, "you want a stick?.. THIS stick?  Well here it is!!!" Grasping the end of the ropy length of mashed creeper, he attempted to bring it back up the five metres to where his mate was glaring down at him.  At that moment an autorickshaw appeared, driving straight for him.

"C-O-L-I-N!!!" screamed Cara.

How had he not  heard it coming?  Too focused on the stick, he supposed.  As he stood considering the options, the auto drew closer at great speed and only at the last moment did he flap and pull away from impending death. The stick remained to its fate upon the tarmac.

Landing once more beside Cara, he was quite breathless.  "I'm losing my touch.  Maybe I should go practice with Clarence a bit more…"

Cara was more relieved than she cared to admit.  She just batted him over the head with her beak and said "You leave the capering to the youngsters - and on that subject, call Clarence in and have a talk about that other matter, won't you?" Care twisted her head at him in 'that' way, the way which caused him to feel all a-flutter.

Shrugging, Colin could see that he'd been out-cawed.

...tbc!  Come back next Monday for the Crow Capers part 4, where-in Colin tackles the task to taming the tear-away...

©Yamini Ali MacLean 2013

The Crow Capers - part 2

Did you miss the beginning ? Back one post!

Colin Crow (stage left) has been complaining to his mate, Cara (she with the stick fetish), about Clarence, their progeny from the last roosting. It had been Cara's assertion that Colin had an equal, if not a greater, part to play in the guidance and upbringing of their young... read on...

"Cara, I'm getting mad now! Cawww, Cawww, Cawww…   oh see? Now I'm stuttering…"  He takes a breather for all of 87 seconds; "...'cause you know that this whole business of man-mothering isn't really catching on..."

"Nonsense, Colin!  Katy Kite was just telling me the other day how wonderful it was to be paired up with Krispin again this year, as he is far better at raising the fledglings than she is.  Then there's the cuckoos.  What a great idea, egging in another bird's nest; but really, I couldn't be that rude. Will you help me here please, this stick is well stuck!"

"CARA!  CARA! CARA!  I am so black with rage right now, I've turned blue!  Will you quit with the sticks and talk to me a minute?!  Honestly, you're like that pig down the back fence, always snuffling your pecker into goodness knows what muck!"

"COLIN!"  Cara gasped in that hissing way crows have, as she huffed at the insult her mate had just thrown upon her.  She returned to tugging at the twig.

"Cara, I swear I'm going to break the nest up if you don't talk to our son this very day!"

With that, Colin Crow reached over and yanked the yard of vine from the morning glory creeper so fiercely, it spring back on him.  He got such a shock he nearly tumbled to the danger side of the Fenccinade. There were squawks and wing flutters and a bit of bobbing about, but Colin succeeded in maintaining his grip on the foliage.

Instead, he dropped the stick. 

For several, awful minutes the world went still. This was not a good thing.

He looked first at the stick lying forlornly on the road beneath, as it narrowly missed being pounded by a vehicle, then back at Cara.  Then back at the stick and then back at Cara.  He opened his beak.  Then shut it again.  Twice more.  Then his head shrank back into his shoulders.

The silence of the Crows could be heard on the other side of the lake.

...tbc!  Come back Thursday for Crow Capers part 3, where-in Colin suffers consequences…

 © Yamini Ali MacLean 2013

The Crow Capers - part 1

Meet The Crows

Here we find Cara Crow and her mate, Colin (that's him on the left).  They are a regular couple on the fenccinade, the fence along which to promenade, and they are often seen strutting its length, oblivious to the five metre drop. Their son, Clarence is even less impressed with the knife-edge existence of the fenccinade.

On one side is the ashram garden bed with lots of shrubs. Should there be a 'hydraulics' failure and the wings give out, at least the landing will be relatively safe.  On the other side, however, is an access road for the five star hotel next door and upon which there is significant traffic movement.  To tumble down there in the event of loss of 'hydraulics' would likely end in tears. Colin refused to think in terms of 'loss of focus' or 'a momentary imbalance'. As far as he was concerned, the mechanics of his wings were the only possible weak points. His son on the other pinna...

One doesn't normally think of birds tumbling to their end; but it does happen.  Crows especially.  They tend to form gangs, you see.  Especially the youths. Off they go and play 'fighter pilot' round the mango trees and buzz the student monks and nuns on the ashram. Recklessness.

"How close can you do a fly-by on baldy over there then Clarence?" one will say.  Clarence will just look down from the roof terrace and let loose, swooping at high speed and inches from the ground, aiming straight at Brother Bindi or Yamini-amma, then banking away to the right and pulling at least three g's as he races back up to the terrace in a vertical lift.  Brother Bindi will only have had time to blink and flinch after the close encounter. What a hoot to watch the human's slo-mo reaction.

There was one occasion where Clive, the top cock from the hotel grounds, was chase-tagging Clarence and poor young Clarence, inexperienced as he was, flew straight into the shoulder of Amma.  Her reflexes were rather better than many of the younger folks might have thought. Or the crows, for that matter. She didn't frighten easily, maybe that was her trick.

Clarence landed slap-bang against her shoulder and for a split second lost all ability to move. Amma reached up and held the large black bird tightly against her bosom, grabbing the beak so as to ensure no mishap could occur. Mighty weapons, are a the beaks of crows. Have your eye out as quick as wink.

Clarence was warm and breathless - and now a wee bit scared, for this had not been on the flight plan. He wasn't at all sure what he felt about being held this way.

Realising there was no immediate danger, he relaxed and only then did the amma let go of his beak and at the same time lift him up into the air, setting him back on trajectory.  He couldn't wait to tell his dad about the escapade.  What he didn't bank on was that dad would tell mum…

"Crikey Cara, cut the cord, will ya?!"

"Cara...Cara…… CARA!"

"what?"

"Your son has been playing chase-tag with that bunch of hooligans from the hotel again.  You need to talk to him!"

"MY SON? D'ya think maybe you have something to do with things around here?  Every year we go through this and every year when the going gets tough, you think it's all up to me.   For crying out loud I even have to build the nest myself! 

Look at this stick will ya, what a great external strut this will make."

"Cara darling, you know Clarence won't listen to me.  He's a toy in your beak when you speak.  He has to start thinking of leaving the nest before we roost again and we can't have that sort of behaviour reflecting on the neighbourhood!"

………...to be continued. Return tomorrow for The Crow Capers - Part 2; where-in Cara stands her ground and Colin drops the ball stick. 

©Yamini Ali MacLean 2013

These were originally posted on the TAKE TOO blog (extinct) and are now being aired out, poked and prodded and brought back into service. One or two of you who have been here since the start may remember the characters, but I hope the story is worth the re-read - particularly with the tweaks. Am also mopping up some glaring inconsistencies; well-seen that it was originally done in the wee small hours with the pressure of tests and assignments on either side!!!

Menolusional - the bird is dreamin'...

For the first week of my stay in Edinburgh this season, I slept over at Mac2's flat and only transferred to the Father's on the Monday, when things had settled a bit.  Mac2 had mentioned and shown me that she needed to chase off a crow who had taken up a morning ritual of knocking on the upstairs flat's dining window. The routine she had established was to open her equivalent window, stick her head out and PSSTTT at it.

Next morning it came, then, yours truly decided to give it a go. Sure enough, off it went.

Don't recall if it came on Christmas day... perhaps he had family to attend... but on Boxing day morning, sure enough, 'knock knock knock'. I started to open the window, but this time it flew away just at the sound.

Okay.

Saturday, along it came and again just the moving of the handle of the window was sufficient to stop the knocking. Birdie, though, simply flew onto the opposite roof and stared down - nay, GLARED - to see if the window was going to open. I did open it and off the crow flew.

Sunday morning. The handle again stopped the knock and again the bird flew to the opposite roof. This time trying to engage me in conversation!!! CAW CAW CCCAAACAACAWWWW????

Well, it's like this Bird. The knocking is annoying. Not to mention the potential for damage. Let's face it too, the other bird you think you are tapping on is just a pale reflection and will never give you what you want. You are getting more out of me than that mirror world. Which is not good either. Now off with you.... and I tapped the window......  Off it went.

Monday morning, I tried just tapping the window.  It worked. Now it occurred to me that perhaps Birdie thought I WAS the shadow critter...There was an attempt to strike up conversation again, but I had to be strong. PPSSSTTTTTT!!!!

I have no idea what the state of affairs is now.

Here's the bird. It flew off and strutted on a totally separate roof.