The Yellow Crow

Chapter One

        House

Not too many years ago and fairly close by, there was a small woods.   It was filled with beautiful maple trees and a few old oaks as well.  In the tallest maple tree, growing on the tallest hill, there was a nest.  A crow’s nest.  From this perch, the crow could look in all directions.  

In the distance to the south, there was a large lake, barely visible above the horizon.  To the east, there was the glow of a large and growing city.  North of the tree, there was a much closer and much smaller lake.  But it was hidden below the hill and behind the trees.  On the west side of the woods was a large stretch of farm fields worked by an older farmer.  

At the edge of this field the crow saw the farmer.  He watched as the man sat down on a stump to rest.  The crow wondered what the farmer was thinking. The crow flew to a tree closer to where the farmer was sitting.

"I’m getting too old to keep working this hard," the farmer said to himself as the sun slipped below the horizon. "Maybe it's time to sell my land to some of those city types."

A few days later, the crow saw the farmer walking toward its tree with a stranger.  The stranger was wearing glasses and a little hat, but the crow could see that the stranger had some papers.  The papers were what made the crow pay closer attention.  

'Paper is very important to humans', the crow thought.

The crow watched in wonder as the farmer and the stranger shook hands.  It knew that men shaking hands was also important but wasn't sure what to expect.

It wasn't many days more before the crow was awakened by the sounds of large machines and many other men walking around its tree.  The crow barely had time to realize what was happening before a buzzing sound shook the entire tree.  The crow flew off a safe distance and watched as the men finished cutting down its home tree.  

CRASH!  

It watched its nest shatter as it struck the ground nearby.  Carefully selected twigs and sticks along with a few saved bits of food scattered over the ground where the tree fell.  

The cries and complaints of the crow to this new reality were never heard over the roar of the other machines pulling and pushing dirt and cutting other trees.  In the end, the crow couldn't stay and watch any longer and flew off to visit some other crows to see if they might know what was happening.

"Ka! Ka! Ka!" The laughter of the other crows rang in the crow's ears.  They had seen this many times before and knew that the man with the glasses and little hat was building a house on the spot where the crow's tree stood.  

The crow went back to watch as the tree cutters made space for the dirt pushers.  

The dirt pushers made space for the dirt diggers.

The dirt diggers made space for the liquid stone layers.

The liquid stone layers made space for the stone stackers.

The stone stackers made space for the wood joiners.

The wood joiners made space for the tube pushers and wire pullers and glass mounters until the house was finished.

As the workers were packing up to leave, the crow saw something sticking out of the ground between some clumps of dirt.  "CAAAW! The crow called out as it recognized a broken part of its old nest.  It swooped over to get a closer look and noticed a little tin left by the workers laying nearby.   Realizing it could be helpful in making a new nest, it looked around at the nearby trees.  The crow didn't like any of the trees until it looked up behind the house.  

There was a tree, left by the tree cutters, on a small hill left by the dirt pushers   The afternoon sun was shining brightly behind it.  To the crow, it looked like a perfect place for a home.  Deciding to stay, the crow started building a new nest high in that tree.

When the nest was finished, the crow gathered a few bits of its favorite food into the little tin at the bottom of its new nest and wondered what might happen next.

Chapter One

        Ladder Man

Twenty-five years after the yellow crow's adventures, the trees had grown taller. The large lake to the south became hidden behind them.  Night after night, the glow of the city to the east shone brighter.  Some of the farm fields to the west were replaced with other houses.  

The little girl who jumped into the pile of leaves grew into a woman.  She now lived in the yellow house with her husband and three children, a boy and two younger girls. 

All the while, the paint on the yellow house faded and started to peel.  

But the old yellow crow's nest was still perched high in a tree behind the house. 

The yellow crow is gone but taught the younger generations of crows lessons about the danger of buckets and grass-eating machines.  Two of those younger crows are perched high in a tree looking down at the front of the yellow house.  Carly lives in the nest built by the yellow crow near the house.  Conor lives on the other side of the small lake behind the hill on which the house was built.

Carly (Kaahr to human ears) and Conor (Kaahn) are friends.  

Spring had come late and they are glad it is finally warmer.  They both hatched the previous spring.   It was not fun to fly back north and find there was still snow all around.  The warmth inspired other creatures out of their dens and nests, too.   Sounds and movements filled the woods with new energy.  

There were also bugs.   

Carly and Conor were going around looking for those little snacks when they saw it.  A very long shiny stick was walking around the side of the house.  It wasn’t really walking and it wasn’t really a stick.  But the crows had not seen anything like it before so that is what they thought at first.  As it got closer, Carly noticed there was a man holding the shiny stick and walking under it.  She called out to Conor about it as they flew back into the woods to watch from a safe distance.

The man carefully walked to the side of the house where the basement had a door to the inside.  The two crows watched as he set the ladder down and leaned it up against the upper part of the house.  Conor and Carly look at each other about to laugh as they realize what the man is about to do.  He is climbing the stick!  Walking up on short metal branches attached to the two long sticks on either side.  "I could have used the shorter ladder", the man says to himself as he climbs.  The crows hear him and now know the human word for the shiny metal sticks.  

The crows have already noticed many different tools that humans use.  The funniest ones are the ones that crows wouldn't need.  Crows don't need a ladder, they can simply fly up.  They also wouldn't need the flat piece of metal with a handle the man is using now.  He is at the top of the ladder, using it to scrape off the loose yellow paint from the house.  Conor looks back at Carly with a smile and a nod to his claws.  If only humans were more like crows, Carly thought, they wouldn't need so many tools.

It was only a joke.  In fact, the two young crows had been learning how to make their own tools.  They are always on the lookout for new ideas or some object that may be useful to a crow.  After watching the man work for a while, the two friends were glad they didn't have to scrape all the yellow paint off the house with their claws.  Each said their goodbyes and flew back home.  

Conor had farther to fly, and as he flew, he wondered.  Why did the old paint need to be scraped off?  He wasn't sure, but he was very curious to see what would happen next.

Chapter One

       Jimmy the Hamster

Twenty-five years after the adventures of the red spotted crows, the family had long since moved away from the house on the hill.  

The boy who played in the woods moved into a house much closer to the glow of the city.  The houses were so close together there was no room for woods between them.  He missed spending time among the trees, but he was no longer a boy.  Now he lived under the glow of the city with his wife, two boys and their younger sister. 

One day, the older boy told his mother he wanted a pet.  His mother, younger brother and sister also wanted a pet.  Unfortunately, his father didn't want a pet.  But the father also cared about his son and decided it would be okay as long as it was a small pet.  The boy named his pet Jimmy. 

Jimmy was a dwarf hamster.

However, Jimmy was not happy.  He was stuck inside a small box.  It had been bouncing and tipping all over after they left the pet store.  It was better after a while when the box was put down.  However, there were strange noises coming from outside of the box.  Cutting and ripping sounds mixed with metal clanging were filling Jimmy's tiny ears.  This could be worse than predators, he didn't know what to expect.

It only became more frightening for Jimmy when the noises stopped.  The boy opened the lid of the box under a blinding white light.  It was not the sun.  A light on the ceiling cast a harsh cold light down on Jimmy.  He was stuck inside a human house.

Before he could find a way to crawl out of the box, a hand appeared.  It was trying to grab Jimmy!  He moved around quickly trying to avoid the long fingers, but the hand knew how to block any route of escape.  Soon Jimmy found himself trapped in a corner of the box with the hand picking him up.  The hand held the hamster tightly and it didn't react even when it was bitten.  Jimmy decided to stop struggling and wait to see what would happen next.

The noise had been made as the family put together a small cage for Jimmy.  The boy placed his pet into the cage and closed the cage door.  Jimmy took a little while to calm down before starting to explore his new home.  His whiskers slipped through the white wires wrapped around the four sides.   Jimmy poked his nose between the wires but that is all that would fit.  He tried several spots to see if he could squeeze through.  But no, the wires were too close together to allow a hamster to escape.  He looked up and saw that the wires extended all the way over the top of the cage.  

He was trapped. 

The blue base of the cage was filled with small wood shavings.   They were soft and springy under Jimmy's paws.  He liked the smell of the wood too.  Jimmy started digging down and pushed his way all the way to the bottom of the cage.  He then turned to the side and made a little tunnel.  Like most hamsters, Jimmy was shy.  It was nice to be hidden from the eyes of the family.  This would make a good place to sleep, Jimmy thought.

The boy moved Jimmy's cage to a table at the bottom of the stairs.  Jimmy waited for the movement to stop before slowly crawling out of his tunnel. He saw a ramp leading up to a higher platform on the other side of the cage.  It was made of plastic and was attached to one side of the cage about halfway between the base and the top.  

Slowly creeping up the ramp, Jimmy noticed some tasty smells up above.  The top of the platform had a hole that held a food cup.  The food cup was blue like the base of the cage.  It held lots of small seeds and some food pellets.  Jimmy took a few bites of food.  He was too hungry to be bothered by the humans watching him from the outside of his cage.  He wondered what would happen when the food was gone.  Would the boy remember to feed him?

After eating, Jimmy wanted something to drink.  He saw a water bottle attached to the side of the cage, right below the platform.  The children watched with surprise as Jimmy walked off the side of the platform.  He plopped down on the wood shavings below, safe and sound.  Jimmy brushed off a few wood shavings and crawled to the water spout.  He licked the drops as they formed on the tip, but he noticed the water had a funny taste.  The boy had been told the importance to add special vitamins to the water.  He wanted to keep Jimmy healthy.

On the other side of the cage from the platform, a wheel was mounted.  The bottom of the wheel reached down almost to the wood shavings.  Jimmy slowly climbed into the wheel.  As he walked up one side of the wheel, it would start to turn and pull him back down to the bottom.  He realized the humans were watching him again, but resisted the urge to hide under the shavings.  

The sister was rooting for Jimmy to get the wheel spinning.  The brother had been running in place as if to show Jimmy what to do. The hamster quickly learned how the wheel would respond as he moved inside it.  Before long, he was able to get the wheel spinning as he ran at the bottom. He decided that he liked running.  The boy watched proudly as his hamster showed its intelligence to make the wheel work.  

Jimmy grew tired of running and not actually going anywhere.  He slipped off the bottom of the wheel and sunk down into the wood shavings.  Digging a new tunnel, he thought that this place might be safe after all.

However, there was one thing that wasn't safe.  There was an opening in the wires that was covered by the cage door.  It would usually stay closed, but if someone wasn't careful it might not get fully closed.  It might even pop back open.

If the family had spent a little more time learning how to properly close the cage, it might not have become a tricky door.  But then Jimmy might not have had as many adventures.