Twisted tales - страница 4

Lucy, a soul as bright as a newly-minted penny but as grounded as a well-worn park bench, possessed a peculiar penchant for pigeons. Every day, rain or shine, she'd waltz into Central Park, a veritable Pied Piper in sensible shoes, scattering seeds with the generosity of a lottery winner. The pigeons, those feathered freeloaders of the sky, knew her schedule better than the mayor knew his own policies.

Her heart, a veritable aviary of affection, overflowed with fondness for the cooing creatures. She saw not disease-ridden pests, but little feathered philosophers, pondering the weighty matters of breadcrumbs and park benches. She even gave them names – Ben, Penelope, and the perpetually grumpy Clarence, who always stole the best bits.

Little did Lucy suspect that her innocent hobby was brewing a storm, a feathered hurricane poised to descend upon the unsuspecting city. The pigeon population, emboldened by Lucy's largesse, exploded like popcorn in a hot skillet. Soon, flocks darkened the skies, statues were snowed under with…well, you get the picture, and the park benches, once heavens of tranquility, became avian battlegrounds.

Mayor Thompson, a man whose hair was greyer than a pigeon's wing and whose temper shorter than a pigeon's attention span, finally cracked. He declared, in a voice that could curdle milk, “Enough! This feathered frenzy must cease!”

His solution, hatched in the dead of night, was…unconventional. He proposed a city-wide pigeon beauty pageant. The winner would get a lifetime supply of gourmet birdseed, and the rest would be gently relocated to a charming, albeit distant, island paradise.

The pageant was a spectacle. Pigeons preened, strutted, and cooed their hearts out. Lucy, naturally, was a judge, her heart torn between fair assessment and fierce loyalty to her feathered friends. Clarence, with his perpetually scowling face, somehow charmed the crowd.

In a twist worthy of a soap opera, Clarence won. But the island paradise turned out to be… a chicken farm. Clarence, used to urban sophistication, found himself surrounded by clucking, scratching rivals. Lucy, though heartbroken, couldn't help but chuckle. The city was saved, and Clarence, well, he learned that even a pigeon can be humbled by a bit of rural reality. Lucy continued to visit the park, though now she shared her seeds with the squirrels, just to diversify her portfolio, you understand.