A black and white ball swooped out of the cloudless African sky, landing on the tips of Noddy’s fingers. Prehistoric talons rested cold and smooth against his skin.
“Hello, Spike, you cheeky bird.”
Spike flapped his wings and squawked with excitement. Or maybe it was hunger.
“Alright, don’t shout at me. I must have something somewhere.”
Noddy dug in his pockets, slowly, careful not to move his other hand too much. The fiscal shrike tilted its head to one side, waiting impatiently. His crisp white chest feathers, extending all the way from under the beak till past his legs, with his pitch-black head and wings, white bars on his shoulders extending into a V on his back, made him look like a tiny doorman in a tuxedo.
“Mick hated that bird.”
Spike hopped from Noddy’s hand, up his arm, to perch defiantly on his head, squawking and flapping.
“And I can see why.” Dirk handed Noddy a beer. “They all look the same to me, though. Rats with wings.”
Noddy put the beer on a table behind him and went back to searching his pockets. “Ah, here we go.” A scrunched-up serviette came out of the side pocket in his sleeveless denim jacket. Unscrunched, it revealed a scrap of bacon. The bird hopped onto his hand again, snatched the scrap and flew the short distance to the razor wire wrapped around the balcony of Dirk’s flat.
“What’s he doing?”
Noddy reached back for his beer. “That’s why they’re called butcher birds. They spike their food on thorns or barbed wire, then either rip it apart and eat it or leave it there for later.”
Dirk shivered. “That’s brutal, man. Like a serial killer, make out.”
Extract from Dancing in Valhalla. 13 twisted tales of music, magick, mayhem & murder.
Now available on Amazon, free on Kindle Unlimited, and in paperback.
And on Amazon.co.uk.
Anthology of Snippets – my short book of short short non-stories – is free this week on Amazon. Go get yourself a copy. Guaranteed to crack a smile, or you can claim a full refund. Also free on Kindle Unlimited.
Thanks for your time.
Cheers.
No comments:
Post a Comment