The boys clutched at each other, forgetting to hold onto the tree’s branch. Adam’s foot slipped and he grabbed Ben on the way down. They landed with a large whump. The crow heard the boys and flew over to them, his large black wings making a whooshing noise.
“Help, don’t hurt us. “Help, help!” They hollered, covering their heads with their arms.
“Oh, my, are you boys alright?”
Adam peeked out from under his arm, “We didn’t mean to trespass Ma’am, and we wouldn’t have fallen if you hadn’t told your ole crow to ‘get’ us.”
“Oh,” she laughed. “I didn’t mean you. Come with me boys.”
Adam stood, helping his brother Ben to his feet.
With powerful thrusts of his wings, the crow soared up into the sky, circling as the boys gingerly followed the woman toward the garden gate.
She opened it wide and turned saying, “By the way, my name is Laura. You boys must be my new neighbours?”
“Ah, yeah. I guess so. My name’s Adam and this is my brother, Ben.”
With a whooshing of wings, the crow landed on the ground by Laura.
“Oh . . . and as you already heard, this is Blacky.”
Blacky hopped over to her, as she parted the leaves of the tomatoes.
Laura pointed at a big green tomato hornworm. “There he is, get him, Blacky!”
The crow lunged forward pecking at it. The worm lifted its tail and made a strange clicking noise. Blacky hopped backwards, cawing loudly in surprise.
Laura laughed. “Eegads, I hate those worms. Blacky won’t eat them, but he gets rid of them for me. He’s not used to worms talking back though.”
“Don’t know why he doesn’t gobble up that ole fat juicy worm,” quipped Ben.
“Well,” Laura said with a smile, “because tomato hornworms have a bitter taste. That’s part of their protection. They’re pretty scary looking too, with that horn on their back end.”
“Yeah, they sure are ugly,” said Adam. They all laughed as Blacky made another bold grab at the worm, shaking it and tossing it into the air. “Caw, caw!”
Laura stood up brushing her skirt. “By the way,” she said, “what were you boys doing climbing my maple tree? You could’ve been hurt badly falling off that big limb.” Blacky flew up into the sky, circling them.
Ben pointed his finger at Blacky. “We were just following your ole crow.”
Laura stretched her arm out and Blacky flew down and landed on it with his big claws. Cocking his head sideways, he peered into the faces of the two intruders. The boys stepped back.
“He won’t hurt you. He’s just curious, like you two.” Blacky held his wings out for a moment, undecided, but then he shook them back and tucked them into place. It reminded Adam of a person crossing his arms.
“Awww,” cawed Blacky, quietly.
Ben pointed again at Blacky, “He’s a thief you know?”
“Oh? . . . well, I know he can be a little mischievous, but he doesn’t really understand the law. What did he steal from you?”
