Red Vest
By TropicalSnowstorm
I love the sky.
Cottony peaceful blue that can turn black and shoot out lightening.
Old man sitting on a park bench feeding pigeons looks happy. He coos and
calls to them so he can smash their little heads with a baseball bat if
they get too close. Feed arches through the air and bounces amongst the
strutting birds that manically bob their heads and eat quickly, as if they
have somewhere else to be in a few minutes. More feed arches in amongst
them and, indiscernibly, the radius of these throws gets progressively
smaller.
Coo, bob, peck. Coo, bob, peck. Peck, waddle, strut. Peck, waddle, strut.
Closer and closer they move toward the bench, as all the while the old
man coos and makes clicking noises. Finally, a few bits of feed fall near
his left foot, which a fat one with a white body and a black head quickly
moves to gobble up.
BAM! The bat comes around from the old man's right side and fuses the
pigeon to the sidewalk in mid-peck.
Immediately the other pigeons retreat through the air in unison, the beating
of their wings masking the sound of the bat being returned against the
park bench at the old man's side. He reaches back into the brown paper
bag of feed on his lap and begins to throw handfuls of it through the air
in a high arching pattern.
In no time at all, the sight of easy food pushes the lesson from their
tiny brains and they begin to come back, two by two, until the area around
the park bench is again full of them. The old man feeding them looks happy,
as he coos and calls to them. I can tell by his red vest we are from the
same place and are, ultimately, heading in the same direction.
Coo, bob, peck. Coo, bob, peck. Peck, waddle, strut. Peck, waddle, strut.
The old man looks over in the direction where I am playing catch with my
little brother. He smiles and waves. "How are you today little Mr.
Killcrop? Want to help me feed the pigeons?"
Coo, bob, peck. Coo, bob, peck. Peck, waddle, strut. Peck, waddle, strut.
I don't know how he knows my name, although he comes to the park every
week. Maybe he knows my family, or maybe he just likes my red vest. "No
thank you. I'm not supposed to go with strangers and I don't really like
baseball anyway." The man nods thoughtfully and, after pondering this
for a moment, replies, "That is probably a good idea. If you really think
we are strangers, I mean." The old man winks at me and smiles before turning
back to the pigeons, throwing handfuls of feed in a high arching pattern.
Coo, bob, peck. Coo, bob, peck. Peck, waddle, strut. Peck, waddle, strut.
I really don't like baseball, but playing catch with my little brother
is fun. One day soon I'll show him how to throw the ball really hard.
When you're good at that, you don't need to get the pigeons to come close
to the park bench.
Overhead I can see dark clouds drifting toward us, they are thick and full
of rain.
I love the sky.
By Steve McKennon, 22 October 2004
Awards
Comments on "Red Vest"
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A former member wrote:
This is awesome. Love the dark demented side of it.
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On Wednesday, July 10, 2013, PoetessDarkly
(700) wrote:
kind of reminds me of the song poisoning pigeon's in the park. look it up on Youtube. it is very funny. great write congrats on the win
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A former member wrote:
Lol nice work :]
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A former member wrote:
Dark and demented....... just the way I like it! I love the connection between the two. Excellent work :)
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A former member wrote:
Wonderful...makes the reader think. Loved it.
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On Saturday, November 20, 2004, Lotophagi
(333) wrote:
holy jeezus, talk about lazy violence.... very impressive, quite scary, and aggresively laid back..... you've accomplished a helluva lot in such a short write. Excellent stuff. Thank you.
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A former member wrote:
geezus T/S i'm just freakin amazed! this was AWESOME, and the ending hahahhaa i LOVE the ending.
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On Sunday, October 31, 2004, Delphoid-Q
(213) wrote:
Hmmm... So many things lying under the surface of this one... Which meaning to pick? Well, I guess if you can get people to ask themselves that, you really have succeeded.
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On Saturday, October 30, 2004, Ophelia
(221) wrote:
This was wickedly wonderful.
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On Thursday, October 28, 2004, Jonas
(720) wrote:
the nature of the people/the nature of the leaders/the nature that is human/the dichotomy of the creatures
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On Friday, October 22, 2004, DarkWolf
(415) wrote:
wicked write.. are the pigeons representing people? Because I can see a similarity there.. fantastic write.. -Michael
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On Friday, October 22, 2004, DarkDruidess
(326) wrote:
whoa...you really blow me away. I just get so drawn into your words...
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On Friday, October 22, 2004, Zhee
(529) wrote:
wow! this was brilliant.. you have the gift of story telling.. i was holding on to every word... awesome work!