Cockatoos on a Raft

It was the thirty third day and already Basil and Angus were showing signs of hostility towards one another with Pogo attempting to act as mediator. Basil thought quite clearly that he had the most attractive crest whilst Angus begged to differ. Not that he thought that his own crest was superior as he knew it was merely average but that he felt Basil was misleading himself through flattery and that there was room for improvement as far as crest-care was concerned. Pogo foolishly got into the middle of the dispute by saying that the whole thing was a matter of opinion and that the real decider of how good a crest was boiled down to the female cockatoo. Basil and Angus both looked at Pogo contemptuously so at least there was something on which they both agreed on. Out of the three yellow, white and grey birds Pogo had the most attractive crest but he was unaware of it. Both Basil and Angus were not all that sure of how to react. Should they be relieved that Pogo has the most beautiful crest but does not know it and therefore won’t be using it as an unfair advantage or should they be annoyed at Pogo’s unawareness of the beneficial thing he has got. Basil and Angus lost interest in their argument and decided to walk about the raft. Pogo decided to join too but for that brief moment he was sent to Coventry. This annoyed him so he decided also to send Angus and Basil to Coventry, the feathery feeling being somewhat mutual. Basil lost all immediate interest in strolling about the raft as she was only one metre by two metres and the only sight to be seen was a choice of two blues. He took it upon himself to wander to a vacant corner and analyse with as much ability as he could his wings. He sighed. Pogo still wasn’t saying anything. A week passed.

The cockatoos all reconciled. All three of them gazed up into the sunlight as they lay on their backs using their wings as sunscreens. All discussed the difficulty of catching a decent fish. Then their conversation went onto their hopes and dreams which wholly consisted of catching decent fish. By the time the sun set and the moon rose Pogo pointed out that the latter was slightly different to the night before. Angus noticed that too saying that a piece had gone missing. Both then laughed with embarrassment when Basil pointed out that it was a big shadow. Basil also found it interesting that there were still clouds up in the night sky as he felt that the clouds would have followed the sun on the way down.

Basil, Angus and Pogo then sat side by side on the raft and let their clawed feet dangle into the ocean. Now and then they would close their talons in case the perfect fish were swimming by at that point. “I do miss crackers.” Said one.

© 2009 Clinton Morgan