Daring to steal one-last-piece of roadkill
a crow flew off laughing
barely missing my windshield —
waking me from my highway slumber.
With eight hours to go
I decided to cap the death drama
with a cup of coffee at the next exit.
It was one week before Halloween
and this remote country exit had a parking lot filled with cars
of parents dropping off kids for a hayride.
The clamor of happy children and the highway traffic
contrasted with the deserted church next door
where an old rusted gate guarded nothing.
And there, that very same crow was now perched,
staring at the full moon.
His beak moved without cawing — he seemed to be talking.
Or maybe his caws were hidden behind the laughs of the children
piling into the wagons of hay, or the tractors’ diesel engines.
Or maybe this was just my hopeful imagination.
But then a mouse ran out of a bale of hay,
over to the church and scurried up the gate.
He sat in front of the talkative crow with rapt attention
and I thought, “How brave! Surely the crow will eat him”
But instead the crow continued his tale.
and now a spider also climbed up the gate to listen.
I strained to hear the feathery minstrel but was distracted
when a child starting crying as the hay-wagons pulled away
and her mother explained that she was too young to go
and that her brother would be back shortly.
When I looked back for the crow and his audience
they were all gone.
And I wondered what fantastic story I had missed.
— by Sabio Lantz, October 2015
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Prompt: I discovered this napkin playfully tucked in my lunchbox and used it to relax into this silly fantasy during quiet minutes at the clinic. So for a few minutes my mind took a break from medical analysis and the life-dramas filling my hours. Happy Halloween! And lo and behold d’Verse Poets put up a Halloween prompt the day after I put up this “poem”.
Ha, this was just a fantastic tale.. Love the thought of a crow telling secrets to a mouse and a spider… I almost imagine that they were making plans for Halloween…
Crows do mimic human speech; they’re in the Mina-bird family. A crow said “How are you?” to me a few years ago; freaked me out. Napkin for a Muse; why not?
Respect the muse where ever it hails. You did a good and true job to that napkin and glad you posted!
Somehow I thought your story was going to end up being way more sinister…but then I don’t know what that crow was up to…no telling…
This reminds me of the fables I read as a child, only for grownups, great piece
Oooh such an intriguing tale!
Beautifully penned.
I like the imaginative take on the storytelling of the crow ~ I think they are making plans of mischief on Hallow’s Eve ~
A truly delightful and fanciful Halloween tale.
and now I know why crows are so noisy – they are consummate story tellers!
This is wonderful!
How fun that you chose a napkin for inspiration in this halloween narrative. There’s something creepy about crows and traveling alone. Makes me think of Psycho.
This was delightful! I love the fact that the napkin prompted your tale.