Henry and the Wood Pigeon

 

 

 

Henry and the Wood Pigeon

 Young Henry used to watch the pair of wood pigeons that came year after year to the cherry plumb tree in his yard. He was only ten years old and they had come for as long as he could remember, so that was year after year to him. He was happy to eat the cherry plumbs while they were still a bit green because of their tartness, but when the fruit were ripe, they were a bit dry and tasteless… and yellow, which made Henry wonder why the wood pigeons liked them so much. They would eat so many at one sitting that they could barely fly.

His Dad couldn’t tell him why they liked the plumbs either, and he knew a lot about the natural world; he used to explain all sorts of things to Henry, filling him with wonder. For instance, the New Zealand wood pigeon was the biggest pigeon species in the world! The world, and in a lot of countries there were different kinds of wood pigeons, but none as pretty. New Zealand wood pigeons mate for life, which is why these two were always together… Henry wondered if, with their cooing, they could actually talk to each other. That’s not as silly as you might think, Henry used to say to himself… often. Because they used to talk to him as he sat beside or under the tree; they would coo and Henry would reply with a coo… not just a coo but a coo crossed with a whistle. And they would answer with their coo back. He had no idea what the meaning might be, but usually, he would tire of the conversation before they did. And Dad told him another thing about the wood pigeon; they can recognise peoples’ faces. Apparently, scientists have tested the theory and Henry reckoned from his experience, they certainly could!

On the day before Christmas, Henry smiled at the Christmas card Grandma had sent him, it was a scene of a house covered in snow, and in New Zealand it was just three days since the longest day… if you want to be scientific, the summer solstice, so the card should have summer flowers or a beach scene! While thinking about summer, he was startled by a loud thud on his bedroom window! He put the card on the shelf and ran out to investigate what might have made the thud, maybe it was someone’s ball?

He found one of the wood pigeons lying under the window, dead! This saddened Henry. He realised that birds don’t understand about windows and from this window, if the door was open, you could see right out of the kitchen window on the other side of the house! George, as he called them, must have thought there was a way through. He called both pigeons George because he had no idea how to tell their sex, after all they were both the same colours.

Henry picked up the limp carcass, having no clue what he should do with it and he cast his eye at the other George sitting on the power wire watching. After feeding on the cherry plumbs, they both sat on the power wire, chewing their cud… well that was Henry’s idea, his Dad told him they were actually digesting their food. Wait! Henry couldn’t quite believe it! He could feel the bird’s heart beating! It was a slow rhythmic beat unlike the sparrows he caught that had found their way inside. Henry wondered what he should do now. He thought about the box Arsey, the grocer had given him, it would be big enough… ten-year-old boys snigger at anything a bit rude and Henry liked using the word, Arsey; the grocer’s name was R.C. Mattews esq. Henry had another snigger at the thought.

He made a straw bed in the box onto which he placed the bird carefully, hoping its neck wasn’t broken. He pulled the binds down in his bedroom and put the box and bird beside his bed, and shut the door. He thought that was the best he could do, and he carried on with the rest of his day. It was light at 5:30am on Christmas morning, so Henry raised the bind enough to see the bird. George was sitting up as if he was sitting on a nest! Henry breathed a sigh of relief because the bird seemed not to be alarmed, but curious, with a red, beady eye watching Henry’s every move.

The bird didn’t struggle when Henry picked him up. He carefully carried him outside and held him up expecting him to fly off, but he didn’t… he remembered that wood pigeons are heavy, so they dive off whatever they’re standing on to fly off. So Henry threw George as high into the sky as he could! Alarmingly, the bird fell like a stone, but then, his wings were out and he flew up to the wire where the other George was waiting. He seemed fine.

It was a happy Christmas for Henry even before he opened any presents!