The Crow Named Clove (MM/f)

[Beaumains]

“Thank you, Dave, see you tomorrow,” Luna smiled to her school bus driver as she hopped off dressed in her middle school’s uniform: a white blouse, a knee-long navy blue skirt, black tights, and inconvenient low shoes.

“You too, Luna,” Dave shouted, but she did not listen. Her loose strawberry blonde hairs had already left his sight as her hazel-brown eyes had strayed to the dark bird on the gatepost who watched her with his bead-like black eyes.

The crow cooed as Luna crossed the road and looped twice around her.

“Calm down, Clove,” Luna hummed as she strode over the driveway, not losing sight of the bird. “Let me drop off my bag, and then I’ll feed you. Okay?”

A single sharp note exited Clove’s beak as Luna turned the key and entered the empty house, careful Clove would stay outside. Her parents would get home later in the afternoon. She kicked off her ill-fitting black leather shoes and fetched a handful of seeds and nuts in the kitchen. On her black tights, Luna strolled through the backyard to the bird feeder that stood on three feet high log.

“It’s a lovely afternoon, isn’t it?” Luna said to Clove, already idling on top of the feeder. “You hungry?”

“Craw, craw,” Clove cooed. His wife, Coco, Luna had named her, followed her from the oak above the conifers that held their nest with three young crows. She was more anxious as she and Clove had started to mate earlier this year and so had less experience with Luna. Clove had lived in the garden ever since Luna accidentally dropped several raisins five years ago. To her mother’s disgust, she kept leaving food, and to her surprise, the crow kept returning to welcome her home every day. Gradually, her parents allowed her to feed him, and tiny, often shiny artifacts popped up on the bird feeder: Gifts from Clove. Bottle caps, colorful pebbles, screws, nuts, and sometimes a more valuable item like a coin or jewelry, though that had happened only five times. Luna collected them and stored them in her room.

Luna petted Clove’s wings with her index finger and laid down the food, hearing the young crows beg for their parents. She beamed as she saw today’s gift: three links of a rusty iron chain. She took it and walked fifteen feet backward. Clove feasted on his well-earned meal, and Coco descended too and filled her belly before taxiing back and forth to the nest.

As always, Luna watched the spectacle unfold with a wide-open mouth. Few fellow 6th graders could appreciate it, calling the birds nasty and stupid. Although kittens and puppies were cuter, these birds were as smart. Sometimes Clove watched her do homework in front of her bedroom window at night, and early in the morning, he wished her a good day too. Meanwhile, she had seen him grow and mature, court his first love, and busy being a good dad.

“See you later. I gotta go. I’ve much homework tonight,” Luna said as Clove had brought the last peanut away. She put the chain in her breast pocket and walked back to the patio doors as Clove flew to the little wooden bench and made a high-pitched rattling sound. “You know what, I’ll do it here,” she smiled as Clove returned to his nest.

Then out of nowhere, a man grappled Luna from behind. One arm around her middle kept her still while he pressed his other big sweaty hand against her mouth. “Quiet, sweet girl, we won’t hurt you,” a gravelly, toneless voice said. “We mean no harm.”

Yet, Luna panicked and screamed with such a volume that the man almost smothered her to silence her. His other arm held her up, giving her the freedom to kick his legs with her heels and smash his sides with her fists.

“Stop that,” the man hissed in anger. “You only worsen it for yourself. Stay still!”

In the corner of Luna’s eye, another man rushed to the clothesline, cutting off the red plastic ropes. He had short, spiky hair and wore a camo t-shirt and khaki shorts. “This’s your own fault, so sit still, and it won’t hurt,” his high-pitched voice said, grabbing a sock and tights from the laundry basket in the adjacent greenhouse.

Luna’s struggles were useless against these grown-up men. They forced the balled sock, which luckily was her own, into her mouth and secured it by winding the tights four times around her head and tying the ends together. Then the younger man cut off a piece of clothesline and used it to tie her ankles together and cinched it. Meanwhile, Luna screamed in her gag and wrestled to get free, but little sounds escaped her throat as the man pressed her face in the sandy grass, wearing her out. Somehow, her right hand found the intruder’s neck, and she hit it.

“Awwpphh!” he screamed, turning the helpless girl on her belly and pressing her clean white blouse onto the lawn. He pulled her wrists behind her and placed his knee on her shoulder. “You’re fortunate we’re good men,” he threatened in a rasping voice. “Others would bruise your pretty face for less.”

His buddy bound Luna’s knees too, grabbed her wrists with one hand, and circled the thin, short cord around it with the other. Luna shrieked again as the trap closed, but ropes did not hurt as they were not tight enough to cut in her flesh. Still, with arms palm-to-palm and the knot below her thumps, escaping had been impossible. Then, with the last piece of clothesline, the man bent her knees and forced her ankles to her wrists by looping it around the cinches.

“We’re so sorry, brave, little girl,” the older man continued frightfully. “This was unnecessary, but you were difficult. According to our computations, your parents are home in an hour. You’re tough, so keep it together.”

He rose, patted her shoulder, and stepped inside, and they rummaged through Luna’s and her parents’ belongings. In her sight, they carried her television outside. Tears formed in her eyes as she recognized how the burglars had come in: Through the front door, she had not locked. They had observed her routine and knew she was home alone on Tuesdays. Her parents would be furious.

Luna grabbed the piece of rope that kept her wrists near her ankles and fought to find the knot. Nothing. She pulled the cord, but it was stuck. “Hhaaamnpf. Hhmpphh,” Luna cried in her gag until she bobbed her head to the bench and saw Clove. “Scream, Clove, or get help,” she pleaded behind her gag, but the bird observed his tied up feeder with his deep-black eyes. “Come on. Please, do something.”

Then to her surprise, the crow jumped off and landed on her hands in one swift movement. Unable to see the bird, Luna felt tippling on her fingers before Clove skipped onto her wrists.

In sheer desperation, Luna pointed to the knot below her thumps, and like a miracle, Clove began pecking it. His beak pushed the knot against her skin and fumbled. Her pinky could reach the two cinches, and as the knot had been a simple reef not, it relaxed. She rubbed her finger against the rope, having enough grip to enroll them. Pulling her knees towards her, gave enough space to undo the entire knot. Clove flew up onto a table as Luna undid the last winding causing the hogtie rope to spin free.

At that moment, an engine ignited, and Luna crawled behind the wall and pulled the nasty thing around her head away. The sock fell out, and a sour, dry feeling filled her mouth but breathing normally again overjoyed her. Luna stood up and peeked through the window into the kitchen. From here, she could see the driveway and a red truck leaving. It had a numberplate! She swept through her backpack, fetching a notebook and pen and scribbled the code down. Then she grabbed her phone that was hidden deep inside her pencil case and called 911. “Thank you, Clove. You saved me. These bandits should never get away,” she thought, seeing red marks on her wrists as her legs were still bound together.

[Mineira1986]

Wow, that was a really interesting concept. Quite an intelligent bird, luckily for Luna. Nice story!

[slackywacky]

Now that is a different story. great read, fun concept, great atmosphere. Hitchcock would have been proud

[Beaumains]

Wow, that was a really interesting concept. Quite an intelligent bird, luckily for Luna. Nice story!

Thanks a lot!
Only on the other hand, if Luna was not obsessed with Clove, she might have closed the front door behind her.

Now that is a different story. great read, fun concept, great atmosphere. Hitchcock would have been proud

Thank you very much! I think Hitchcock would have let Clove pick the eyes out of the burglars, and Clove is not that aggressive.