A Short Piece: Kildeer

[dustdevil]

I wrote this a year and a half ago while looking out my window at work, and watching the immutable force of progress at work.....

Comments welcome; my writing has improved a fair bit since then, but I still like this piece.

~~~

Dust rose in a soft puff behind the lumbering mass of the dump truck, the swirls and eddies left in its wake playing out their brief existences chaotically before their parent cloud dissipated into the hot summer’s air. The ground, once lush and green, teeming with all varieties of life, was now a barren tract of dirt and clay, flattened time after time beneath the wheels of the heavy construction vehicles. Burly men, most dressed in plain tank tops, trod amongst the machines of destruction, cussing and smoking, all the while rendering the landscape more and more uninhabitable.

Drifting above the desolation of the meadow, small wings flapping every now and then to maintain its position upon the thermal, a small bird circled, his milky orange eyes sad with loss. Soft brown wings tilted as he avoided a foul pocket of exhaust; he had once flown into a small cloud of the pollutants and been disoriented for hours, almost crashing headlong into a building of glass and steel. His small black-ringed throat puffed out as he scolded the destroyers below, kill-deeeeer, kee-dee, kee-dee, kill-deee, but the shrill was lost beneath the roars of the great engines, insignificant and ineffective.

Eventually the once-meadow would become a sea of dull gray delimited by chalk yellow lines, token trees planted in confining boxes to give the impression of a oneness with nature, a meaningless irony. Eventually the killdeer, and other remaining wildlife, would be forced to move farther and farther as the never-ending tide of buildings encroached on nature, an unlamented genocide. For this was progress, and be damned if a small brownish bird, or its entire species, mattered in the face of technology. One day more like it could be made……..

~~~

Here's a link to a picture of a kildeer, if you're interesed: http://www.seanfitzgerald.com/images%20framesets/texas%20wildlife/shorebirds/source/kildeer_running.htm. And if you want to see some damn fine photographs, check out the rest of the site.... there are some really gorgeous shots in there. The main page is: http://www.seanfitzgerald.com

[Voice Caile]

Impressive. The imagery was very well done. One of these days you should elaborate a little more on it, make a full short story out of it.

[Nell]

*Adds to the request that it be extended*

Really enjoyed reading this but now I want to know where it could lead.

[dustdevil]

*blushes* Thank you both. I had considered fleshing it out to at least a couple of pages, but decided to post it as is. If I did extend it, I would probably end up describing more of the birds thoughts and actions as is circled above its destroyed habitat.

Perhaps if I get a chance this weekend (assuming I can meet my 3 required posts for my guild in Maxim!) I'll take a peek at it again.

Thanks again! I'm flattered!