Seagull

A seagull sits in the short yellowing grass of Waldenberg Park. He looks quite relaxed as a strong breeze whips by disturbing the steal gray feathers on his back. But he is puzzled. This place is much too quiet.

This used to be a much busier, noisy place. It seems strange to be relaxing in the grass in the middle of the day like this. He knows that this was not always possible. Looking around he sees his friends walking here and there. Some of them are taking advantage of the nice wind today and are hovering low overhead with great ease.


Along the red brick path by the Mississippi river he notices a couple of people with overstuffed backpacks walking by the rail. Then he realizes - that's it! It's the small people. That's why it is so quiet. That's why he and his friends can hang out in the grass undisturbed. The small people are missing. They used to be here almost every day. He realizes he has not seen them for a very long time.

Although it is nice to be able to relax by the river, he actually misses the small people. They would always come in groups. Each group had their own colors, red and gray, blue and white, or green and brown and others, all walking together. And the bigger people would herd them into the grass. There was no standing still when they were around. If you happened to land anywhere near one of them they were sure to chase you back into the air. But, they were great to have around, because they always carried bags, boxes and backpacks full of wonderful things to eat, and the small people would share.

Much to the delight of the small people, the seagull and his friends would fly overhead just out of reach. The small people would toss their food to the seagulls who would dive down and pluck the food up without touching the ground. The small people always had such great things to eat. Sweet, salty, crunchy, gooey and best of all, sometimes even fishy, the small people always provided a feast.

When their bags were empty, they would run. The bigger people would try to stop them and herd them back together again, but they would usually escape and run some more.

The seagull thought about how much he really missed the small people. He wondered where they had gone, and wished that they would come back soon.