the pigeons

The pigeon was pecking away at a piece of bread on the side-walk that some passerby had thrown there. He was a large bird coloured purple-blue with metallic green speckles about the neck. He had brown-red eyes and a little white stripe across his beak. He fed pecking and bobbing his head about as he ate on the bread. He pecked up small morsels at a time and ate them. The pedestrian crowds milled about him on the pavement without disturbing him.

A fellow pigeon, and then another, landed close by him having spotted the bread he was pecking at from a distance. They started interfering with his meal as they pecked at the bread with him. Soon there was fierce competition amongst the three about the piece of bread. He chased the other two this way and then that, but could not discourage them from continuing to feed on his piece of bread. Eventually the three birds settled down and stopped their antics, feeding together on the broken bread. They pecked away, they swallowed, and they ate.

About milled the heavy traffic of human feet, but all passersby were careful not to disturb them in their meal. Pigeons were welcomed in the inner-city by people as it was known that this was their terroritory. They were brought here long ago by the people themselves, and had since gone wild, feeding on leftovers and bread that was cast by the way by city dwellers. The pigeon kept on feeding as did his two dinner partners.

For them there would always be a meal passed on by a friendly hand. They would be provided for always and never go hungry. The feeding continued as always with a battle of pecking wills on side-walk…