Sharp Eyes and Talons

One of those monstrous two-legged creatures - a human, Bobby's father had labeled it - stood beneath the pine tree that Bobby's family called home. Bobby glared down at it, while the human pointed a tube in his direction. Nothing new. This same human came and gawked at Bobby and his family nearly every day, sometimes accompanied by a gaggle of other humans and a large furry creature, a dog. "Dogs," Bobby's father had stated, "are stupid. See how it wanders around aimlessly sniffing the grass?" Bobby slowly slid his eyes shut, trying to block out the din of the colony of shiny black birds. Oh, right - they were called grackles, or so his father said. Bobby was confused. There was so much to learn!

A few moments later, Bobby coughed up a pellet containing the indigestible fur and bones of a rat that he had eaten yesterday. The pellet fell, bounced a couple times, and then came to rest among the pine needles and grass. The human dashed to it and picked it up. Bobby looked on with amusement as the human placed the pellet in a plastic bag. I guess those humans are pretty stupid too, after all, he thought. I don't know why it would want a pellet... maybe it is hungry.

The human loitered under the tree until dusk fell. Bobby hopped up to another branch, feeling alert and hungry. He hoped his father could catch another rabbit - they were more juicy and sweet than rats. His father regaled Bobby and his siblings with tales of delicacies he had enjoyed in the past - skunk, house cat, duck. As the grackles quieted down for the night in the reeds, Bobby's father glided soundlessly from his perch high in the pine tree amd across the lake. Bobby followed him, giving a shrill ssshhhreeep! begging call in flight. From his new perch on the other side of the lake, Bobby watched as the human walked away along the long, smooth rock - no, sidewalk - occasionally stumbling or stubbing its toe. What weaklings! Bobby thought. They can't fly, can barely even walk, and are nearly blind! Bobby chuckled to himself as he swooped after his father.