The dodo ruffled his feathers, pecking at a nut halfheartedly. He didn't much care for it, so wandered ten feet and pecked another nut. Wander. Peck. Wander. Peck. Trip over a log. Peck peck peck. Finally the dodo found a nut he liked.

It was, oddly enough, the exact same nut he earlier had rejected.

He picked it up in his beak and tried to crush it, but didn't succeed. Frustrated, he tossed the nut to his left. It cracked up against a rock and shattered.

As he ate, he wondered idly what had happened to the other dodos. Used to be you couldn't look for a nut to peck at without running into another dodo, but he hadn't seen another in a few months. Probably off on another part of the island.

He could hear something behind him, but he didn't care. There wasn't anything on this island that could harm him. He continued eating the nut, finished it, and started wandering off to find another.

Thunder boomed, despite the clear sky, and the dodo was startled into action, running in a random direction- the left, as it happened. Then to the right. Then neither, after he tripped over a log and fell over. There was something that sounded like nothing natural he'd ever heard before, and then another crack of thunder. Strangely, the air by the dodo's head whizzed for a moment then fell silent. He got up and wandered away. The rock next to him threw out splinters of stone. He glared at it. Nothing more happened. After a second or so, he turned his head again and moseyed off, pecking at random objects.

Wander. Peck. Wander. Peck. Trip over a rock. Peck peck peck.

An hour later, the thunder boomed again. This time, he didn't bother to look up from his nut. Yet again there was a sound like nothing he ever heard before, but this time it sounded pained. He wandered over to it.

It was one of those weird two-legged pink things covered in what looked like neither fur, skin, nor scales, with a long shiny stick lying on the ground next to it. How odd. It had its head in its strange wings-without-feathers. Ruffling his feathers, he tilted his head. The two-legged pink thing seemed to notice him, for it suddenly snapped its head up and stared at him. The dodo squawked in a friendly fashion. "Kwak."

Slowly, without moving anything but its hand, the two-legged pink thing reached into a pouch, removed a small shiny stick, and pulled a thorn on the bottom. There was a click but nothing else. Seemingly in disgust, the two-legged pink thing threw the small shiny stick against a nearby rock.

There was a boom from the small shiny stick. It startled the dodo to the point where he fainted.


He woke up in a cave made of tiny plant stems and immediately began squawking indignantly. Suddenly the top of the cave opened and a two-legged pink thing's face was staring at him. It was the same two-legged pink thing as before. It looked quite surprised to see him. The dodo squawked hopefully. "Kwak?" Then, more insistently: "KWAK!" The two-legged pink thing jumped back, dropping the cave made of tiny plant stems, and the dodo spilled out.

Once again, it waddled over to the two-legged pink thing and waggled its tail. Why had the thing jumped back? He had just been asking to be let out. He didn't think it was the two-legged pink thing's fault that he was in there, somehow he must have ended up in there without the two-legged pink thing noticing.

Shrugging to itself, the two-legged pink thing shoved the two sticks into the ground, picked the dodo up gently, and started wandering off with him. The dodo snuggled down, ruffling his tail feathers. "Kwak," he said softly.


Far behind the two was a pistol, muzzle driven into the ground. Next to it, a rifle, also driven into the ground.


-- Citrakayah
Written 2011.