Tapping on the window only confirmed I hadn't gotten rid of the crow like I had initially thought.
With darkness shrouding it and making the white eyes blare through the glass, I contemplated leaving the creature outside and ignoring it.
The tapping was so persistent and demanding that I was afraid it would break my window.
I slid it open and leant back when a clawed hand pushed into my kitchen, holding a new trinket.
It was the fork I had given it, twisted around the coin trapped within the bent prongs and handle. The end of the fork was twisted to the top where the twine had been wrapped to form a bright loop that a claw held toward me.
"You made this?"
I took it in disbelief to run my finger over the craftsmanship. The crow crooned and hopped from side to side in happiness at my acceptance of the gift.
No-one had done something like this for me in a very long time. It prickled my heart and made me smile at the amount of effort that had gone into it.
Did that mean I needed to give it something more in return? Was it just a never-ending exchange?
"Wear" it pointed to my neck "necklace."
"It's a little small for that" I held it up with my finger and giggled at the ambition "but it's great."
Its energy instantly deflated.
The least I could do was give it some more food for its efforts.
Dishing up a second bowl, I passed it out the window to the eager claws.
"Goodnight" I smiled at it looking down at the bowl "and thank you."
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I was actually excited to see what new gift had been left for me when I shuffled to the kitchen to slide in some bread to the toaster.
Peeking out the door, I saw that the crow was in the field, cawing out when it saw I was awake.
"Alright, alright" I grinned back with a yawn "it's too early for that."
It rushed for the veranda and stood there excitedly, tapping it's little feet from one to the other in happiness.
It dipped its head and opened its beak to dump a fat frog at my feet that splatted onto its back before flipping over and leaping away.
The crow and I watched it disappear into the grass before it turned back to me.
"Gift."
"Oh" I realised "uh, thank you."
It looked back to the way the frog had gone and frowned back at me.
"Gift" it insisted with a whine, diving back into the grass to try and find it again.
What a silly thing. I held back my laughter.
It'd be there for a while.
I left it to grab my toast and butter it, bringing it outside to offer the crow one slice.
It leapt back up and promptly dumped the frog onto the toast that I held in shock.
What did I do with this?
The frog croaked when I passed it to the crow. It eyed the toast before snapping it up, along with the frog.
It threw its head back to swallow them both, fluffing up and shaking its head when it was devoured.
"I'll...." I tried to form words "...um...."
A smile played on my lips and I snorted as I started to laugh at the absurd situation.
The crow took flight at the noise, perching on the fence again that groaned from the pressure.
"No!" I laughed and waved my hands "you silly thing!"
Biting into my slice of toast and wiping my eyes, I realised how much I actually appreciated having this creature around.
Once a pest, I was seeing how wrong I was.
I liked having it on my doorstep morning and night. I was actually looking forward to whatever trinket it had dug up to present me with.
Inspired, I snatched up my art supplies once more to paint out the newest offering that had been short-lived.
A frog on toast. I giggled just at seeing it form before me again.
Maybe this is what I needed? Something to show me the 'different' I had been overlooking?
The crow leapt through the grass, obviously hunting something new that was evading it.
It was jumping about and making all sorts of noises. I watched it, smiling at its silly antics until it caught what it had been dodging.
Dangling from its feet was a very irritated, snapping, red bellied black snake.
"Gift!" the crow called happily as it leapt towards me to gain momentum to fly.
"NO! NO! NO!" I scrambled to try and drag myself to my feet as it advanced, scraping together my supplies to throw them haphazardly inside "NOT THAT! THAT'S A SNAKE!"
"Gift!" the crow ignored my panic to keep flying it towards me.
I could hear the hissing of the snake still trying to snap onto the claws it dangled from.
Shoving my wet painting under my arm and hurling the brushes inside, I tripped and fumbled my way to the door just as the crow launched the snake where I had been sitting.
I couldn't close and lock the door fast enough. Only when I slid down the back of it, I saw the damage I had done to the painting now smeared across my shirt and down my arm.
"Jeez" I moaned at my addled brain and stupidness.
The cute frog was just a ugly brown mark now. All of that hard work, gone in an instant.
I couldn't blame the crow either. It didn't see the danger in bringing me live gifts that didn't bother it. A frog was one thing, but a venomous snake was another.
Would.... it eat that one too?
I sighed, only thinking of how much time would go into covering up the canvas in the ugly brown to repaint over it.
The crow beat its feet on the stone forcefully over and over. It was drumming into my sore head staring at my ruined work.
What a waste of time.
"Gift" I heard on the other side of the door.
It beat a few more times before finally going silent.
I couldn't hear the snake anymore. Perhaps it had slithered back into the grass?
Sliding across the lock and inching the door open, I peeked out to see the crow standing there. The snake was still here too, dangling lifelessly from its beak.
It had bashed the damned thing to death on the stone.
"Food" the crow glowed and dropped the snake by the door that my blood ran cold at.
"Oh, you can have it" I gulped back and chuckled nervously "your trade."
Did it understand that?
The crow scowled and flared, growling.
Yeah, it sounded like it did.
"I don't eat snakes" I mumbled to it.
The white eyes glaring at me were so intimidating. I felt like the crow itself could kill me as easily as that snake if I opened my door only a few inches further.
Its height didn't help the matter. Being so tall, the creature loomed over me and added to the anger pouring from it.
"Here" I fumbled behind me without taking my eyes off the crow, grasping something "a trade."
I rolled out an old paintbrush that had the varnish peeling off it.
A clawed foot snatched it up before the crow leapt into the air and sailed into the skies once more.
Grateful it was finally gone, I grimaced at the snake still dead by my door.
There was no way I was even going near that thing.
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It was still there when night fell and I curled by the fire with my canvas. The crow hadn't returned, which had me feeling guilty for refusing its trade, as horrible as it was.
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