Young Whippersnapper

Written for https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/category/what-do-you-see/

‘Oi Bob! What’s your problem?’

Bob lowered his wings into a slimline bullet. This was his domain. A choice location, where only the best scraps of ham littered his ledge.

‘Get your own pad, mate?’

‘Young whippersnapper, you ain’t grown your feathers yet. Still brown and tawny. I’m much stronger than you. I have all my white and I’ll whack my wing with you if you don’t leave,’ Terry said.

As the stealthy sea rolled in, each ambling wave lapped at the shore. The moon’s magnetic force grabbed hold of their comfort and wandered off to pastures new. Rolling waves, covered in green, bubbled and rose to the surface.

The window inched open, and her familiar human hand held out a slice of bread.

She shared her scraps, and both seagulls spread their wings wide. They could share the food. Tourists beckoned on the pier. Chips, pancakes, and sausage rolls were tasty treats from unsuspecting prey.

Bob didn’t care that he was only a fledgling – he was more resilient than people gave him credit for. Where was his mum with a scrumptious worm? Probably near the beach, ready for a breakfast of scones.

‘Alright, we’ll split my grub. Besides, there is plenty to go around. That child just opened the light, and we all know that’s where the good stuff is,’ he said.

Stealthy

steal everything in its path

great at nicking chunky chips

flexing our muscles

to be fed

treats.

I wrote this when I was on holiday. We had some seagulls visit us each morning. We named one Bob, and the other Terry. The baby forced the older bird off the ledge, but eventually shared the food.

Published by writerravenclaw

I am a fifty something mother of two grown up children, and one beautiful grandchild. I have been married for nearly thirty-four years. My first book was published ten years ago. I wrote my book Sticks and Stones because of my experience of being bullied at school.

14 thoughts on “Young Whippersnapper

  1. It was a lot of stairs to climb to our holiday let, but the view was well worth it. Waking up to nature is amazing. My son’s work has a family of deer. Sometimes, in the early morning, we are lucky enough to see a family of them.

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  2. I will never forget the time we were on vacation and a seagull came and took my daughter’s entire sandwich out of her hand and flew away! Now that I remember, it was last year maybe that she went to a restaurant near the beach and a sea gull stole her entire lobster roll! Those are expensive, she was quite upset!

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