Song of the seagull
Young Raymond has a chat with a seabird
The seagull landed on the stone wall and fixed me with his beady eye.
“Hello,” said the seagull.
“What?” I said, a bit surprised.
“Hello, I said,” said the seagull.
“That’s what I thought,” I said.
“My name’s Jonathan.”
“Let me guess… Livingstone Seagull.”
“How did you know? Have we met before?”
“Er… no. Why are you talking to me, anyway?”
“You got a bag of chips and, being a seagull, I like chips.”
“Well, you are not having any,” I said, as I stuffed several fat chips in my mouth, savoring the salt and vinegar taste.
“Why not?”
“They’re mine, for one thing.”
“And…”
“And if I give you any, I will be mobbed by all your seagull mates.”
“Well, we do like a good chip supper,”
“Exactly!”
“Exactly what does that mean?”
“It means you ain’t having any. Anyway, how come you can talk?”
“All seagulls can talk.”
“Really?”
“Yep, we just choose not to.”
“Yeah, right.”
“S’true. We mostly just screech at each other but that’s just to impress the tourists.”
“I see.”
“Gissa chip!”
“No!”
“I’ll be you bestest friend.”
“If you were my friend, you’d be my only friend.”
“Is that why you are sitting here, on your own, eating your chips and talking to a seagull?”
“S’pose…”
Just then, I heard my Mum calling.
“Raaay-mond! What on earth are you doing?”
“Just finishing me chips, Mum.”
“Who are you talking to?”
“A seagull called Jonathan.”
“Oh, very nice. Now hurry up and finish your chips. Grandad’s gone to get the car and he’s got work in the morning.”
“Yes Mum,” I said.
O ~ 0 ~ o
Just to emphasise that this story is entirely fictional. Although I did have a Mum who called me Raymond and a grandfather who owned a car (we did not), I am not the Raymond in the story. Apart from anything else, I was not an only child. I grew up with three brothers and a sister.
The story was originally written in June 2022 for a challenge set by Deborah Ratliff of the Writers Unite! Facebook group.
Ray has written a number of other fun and serious:
Anthropomorphic adventures
Run with the Pack: A lone wolf's struggle for survival.
Farewell dear brother: Prologue to Run with the Pack
Fishy dishy: A young lad called Raymond looking forward to a tasty fish and chip supper is confronted by the fish on his plate.
Set me free why don't you mate: Conversation with a captive crow
Anthropomorphism anyone? How to create authentic animal characters
Enjoy
About the Creator
Raymond G. Taylor
Author living in Kent, England. Writer of short stories and poems in a wide range of genres, forms and styles. A non-fiction writer for 40+ years. Subjects include art, history, science, business, law, and the human condition.
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More stories from Raymond G. Taylor and writers in Fiction and other communities.
Back to school blues
First day back at school tomorrow and Susan was not happy to return after the long summer vacation. “There’s really nothing to worry about, dear. You’ll be fine,” said her Aunt Emily. Susan was not convinced. Emily tried to reassure her. “You’ll be able to see your friends again.” That was true, but she was not sure she wanted to see them, particularly if it meant going back to school to do so. First day after the long summer break, it was also the day when she and four other children had been selected to tell the class about their summer. They were told to choose one thing that they had done during the vacation, and speak about it for five minutes, bringing something along to use as a visual aid. A kind of show and tell.
By Raymond G. Taylorabout a year ago in Fiction
Comments (8)
Love the story! I actually have a connection to birds! You can find that connection in my stories.
I have only recently read that book...and I was not a fan, but I always wondered what a seagull would say to me if they could talk. Probably something intense about French fries. Thank you for this!
Love salt and vinegar chips. Great story about a friendship and one that I would read to kids.
Chips and that too salt and vinegar flavoured? Ain't no way I'm sharing hahahahahaa! I loveeeeeeeeee this story so much!
Creativity is here.
This was funny, I like the boy’s no-nonsense mother.
Lol
“It means you ain’t having any…”. Very funny little ditty!