One early Sunday morning, way back in 2008 when Bruce and I had just moved to Strathmore, Alberta, we went over to Walmart just as the store was opening. The parking lot was deserted but when we got out of the car, we could hear one heck of a racket going on.
We looked around until we spotted the players and got a little closer to see what all the trouble was.
Sitting on the handle bar of a shopping cart, facing out, were 4 black crows squawking at a big group of seagulls on the ground, who were gathered around the cart. The seagulls were squawking too, so the noise level was off the charts.
Clearly both groups felt they had been wronged in some sort of business deal and mediation was called for but I didn’t have all the facts. I watched closely and then I saw it. One of the crows had a perfect slice of pizza clamped in his beak and the other 3 were keeping him and the prize safe.
They had put themselves on the handle of the shopping cart to get away from the seagulls, where they could still flash their pizza and make random comments without fear of reprisal. This was getting good.
The gulls outnumbered the crows 3 to 1 easy but the crows had the advantage of height and pure ego. I looked closer at the one with the pizza.
He had it clamped in his beak, his buddies were trash-talking the gulls and I could see his beak moving a bit. I realized that he wanted to say some stuff too but he was in charge of the pizza. He had a big job keeping the pizza safe while his boys verbally held off the seagulls but I don’t know if he realized just how big of a responsibility he had been tasked with.
As I watched him, the temptation of this crow to say a few words on behalf of his flock and all flocks before him was starting to push harder now and I think I saw bubbles coming out from under his beak.
I was worried for him. He had to know that the rest of his gang was doing a great job of making a racket and posturing for the seagulls. 3 crows had taken on the work of 4 crows and were holding out very well. But I still felt that the gang may have chosen the wrong guy to hold the pizza. He wanted to squawk. It wasn’t looking good and if he didn’t get a hold of himself, this was going to go south.
I didn’t want to leave this dramatic moment but we had things to do, so Bruce and I went into the store, leaving the crows and seagulls to their noisy battle. We did our shopping and came out about 20 minutes later.
The parking lot was still deserted but it was much quieter than before. I was afraid to look. Did Eddie the crow hold up his end and keep the pizza for his gang, thereby ensuring a good feed for the rest of the morning? Or did he embarrass himself and the rest of his boys by finally squawking and losing the prize of the century – a beautifully untouched piece of pizza with extra cheese?
We walked to the car and as I looked around I didn’t see the crows anywhere. I spotted the seagulls gathered close by so I walked over to check them out. And there it was. The head seagull was strutting along with that perfect piece of pizza in his beak.