Fiction|Fantasy|Writing Challenge

Pigeon Power

85 of 💯 — He will control you with his mind!

“Yo! Poofie!” The pigeon perched on the fence bobbed his head up and down as he called out to his featherless friend who was busy terrorizing a honeybee. “Yo, did I tell you I can make things happen — with my mind?!”

BARK, BARK

Poofie looked up at the colorful bird. A.D.H.D. pulled his attention in another direction as he bound closer to his backyard visitor, allowing the furry bee to BUZZ to a neighboring yard. Stopping near the metal fence — keeping the outside world — out, he tilted his fluffy head as he looked innocently, eyes wide, at the bird declaring such a bold statement. “You can do that?”

The bird scratched his head with a sharp talon, “Of course I can! Come look through the fence and watch.” The pigeon glanced at the changing traffic light, then up and down the busy street.

Poofie’s tiny legs brought him to the safe confines of the bars where his black nose protruded through, dancing on the other side as he sniffed. Offended by the fumes from the vehicles speeding by, he retracted his nose, and sat in the cool grass.

Feeling the urge to itch, Poofie scratched at the stiff, new collar gracing his neck which caused a short-attention-span-chain-reaction. Abandoning his post, his nose deep in the grass, he began sniffing and followed a jumping cricket. This led the little dog to a blue, rubber ball hidden in the grass.

Grasping the firm ball in his sharp teeth, he shook his head. Releasing the toy mid shake, it flew off to the side. Poofie scurried after it, ignoring the doll with braided hair that he passed. He pounced on the ball, when another scent tickled his wet nose.

Abandoning the ball, Poofie buried his nose in the grass, once again, as he followed the delicious scent to a large knuckle bone by the Maple tree. His fuzzy head turned this way and that as he attempted to fit the large bone in his small, drooling mouth.

The pigeon, seeing his opportunity drawing near, glanced down at Poofie. Seeing nothing but grass where he had been, his beady eyes scanned the backyard.

“Yo, Poofie! What you doing Dawg?” The pigeon flipped his wings and ruffled his feathers. Swaying his head from side to side, “Get back over here and watch me work — my magic.”

Poofie, forgetting the bone, raced to the edge of the fence with surprising speed. He barked as a bicycle rode past, shocking the rider and nearly causing them to fall. Then a bus stopped before them — just past the sidewalk. The side contained a montage of images with elephants, giraffes, camels, and more as it advertised the local zoo.

“Pay attention Poof — Dawg.” The pigeon extended his wings and neck as far as they would go — looking ridiculously like a Stretch Armstrong toy.

Wing pressed against his forehead, the pigeon repeated a cooing incantation several times, peeking between his feathers at the intersection and vehicles edging forward. “Coo — coooo — coo — cooo — coo — coo…”

Poofie watched his friend with anticipation. His eyes open wide as he glanced between the chanting bird and the traffic past the steel bars.

With a flourish of feathers, the pigeon launched himself into the air as the stopped traffic lurched into action. At the height of his jump, the bus laden with animal images was hit by a purple Volkswagen Beetle running a red light with a loud — CRASH.

Poofie slowly turned moon-sized eyes from the crunched metal in the intersection to the pigeon bowing atop the fence to him and an unseen audience.

“You did that?”

The pigeon puffed out his chest, “I did! Are you amazed at my powers?!”

Poofie looked again at the intersection. “You are the one doing that every day?!”

The bird’s puffed up chest fell a little bit.

“Make my bone small so I can fit it in my mouth!”

The pigeon’s bold demeanor changed as his eyes shifted from the accident to where the bone lay near the tree. “Maybe another time. I, uh, I have someplace I need to be — later Dawg!”

Poofie watched his friend fly away, glanced at the accident, then was distracted by another bicyclist riding past. His bone forgotten, he let the cyclist know they were trespassing on his turf.

BARK, BARK, BARK

1 pt - Tallie box
2 pt - Poofie is becoming famous
5 pt - Onomatopoeia
1 pt - doll with braided hair
2 pt - large bone in Poofie's small mouth
1 pt - camel on zoo bus
1 pt - long incantation of coos
1 pt - VW Beetle

This story is written in response to Jonathon Sawyer’s Monday Mash-Up below. I challenge P. L. Goaway and Beth Peterson — I hope you have time and accept!

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Inspired by Zane Dickens’💯 Story Challenge.