Here we were, in the bar with large sticks being pointed at us. Dun Dee and Jasper just snatch three large boxes of fries from the two families seated near the kangaroo statue. Luke, being the smallest of us four, snagged a couple of bags from toddlers, which were, presumably, filled with burgers and more fries; and I had enough drinks for the four of us.
"You know who we are," I squawked.
"We do," said a jittery human. "We told you this would happen if you come back."
I stood my ground by raising my chest in the air, ruffling my feathers. I stretched out my long neck and showed my sharp, strong beak to the tourists and workers. Showing them who was boss of this outback was of the highest importance. Little did the humans know of respect for other lives than their own. The time had come for a little lesson and the emu brotherhood was going to show the humans their power.
"You are on our turf, human," I said. I scratched my leg with the other foot. "You invaded our lands with your dwellings and forced us out. You owe us."
"It's the way of the world," a chubby-faced human yelled out. "Do you know how many of us have lost our homes?"
No! Not the pity card. Not the best time. Luke was a sucker for pity. He almost always felt bad for the other side, the human side.
"My mommy had to work two jobs to pay for what that jack-ass of a bird has taken from me," said a tiny human who sat by the waterfall.
I looked at Luke. He was cracking. I could tell by the way his knee shook, by the way his beak clattered together. He was about to drop the goods and run. Think!
"Any last words, birdie?" asked a slim human.
"Gentleman and Ladies," I said as I moved my wing over several spears and pushed the tips down. "There is no need to be hostile. The rule is you feed us daily - morning and night - and we leave you alone until feeding time. Easy. Simple. If our demands for respect are not taken into consideration, bigger things will happen. Scary things. Strange things. And you don't want these bigger things to happen because, if they do, you will be paid a visit from the great emu elder - and he does not take kindly to humans who disregard the sacred pact between human and emu."
Like the night inching its way into the light, the tips of the spears rose again and drew closer to me.
"What the fuck are you talking about," said a human behind a cash register. His eyes grew big like the moon and sinister like Chucky. "Good people. Let’s cook some bird to cover the cost of what we've lost. Sound like a plan?"
The whole restaurant said yes in unison, which made me shiver. It couldn't have gotten darker for us in the brotherhood, even if Alfred Hitchcock was hired to scare the piss out of us. Birds or not, in the eyes of humans, we were thieves. And thieves had to be dealt with.
The cows stamped the dust up as their chanting rose to a moo-ving crescendo.
"Cattle deserve to breathe. Twenty years at least."
"Equal rights for cattle. No longer human's chattels."
The hubbub died away as a large bull stepped forward. Brown flecked his eyes mirroring the colour of his coat. He eyed the Emu sternly as he paced in front of the enraptured cattle and snorted.
"Fellow cattle, our esteemed Emu visitors, we have endured long millennia of slavery by these human animals. But with the great awakening we surely thought those times passed."
Moos of agreement rang out.
“Ever since the first fish raised their voice in song as they were pulled to their death in the nets of humans. Or the first dog asked for a taste of their owners meal. We animals have shown them that we have a voice and a soul. Before the light of language blossomed across the world we were little more than a resource to humankind.”
The bull paused and stared fiercely into Dun Dee’s eyes.
“The Kangaroo and the Koala had it relatively easy, being classed as wild animals. But our brother Emu know the pain of servitude. They are new to the chattel of the cattle class. Yet even they, so new to the chains, have been betrayed by the humans.”
The bull stomped the ground with a thunder clap.
“This new human law will strip our right to twenty years of life before the slaughter. It will strip the Emu and other cattle classes of their rights to healthy feed.”
The dust settled as the Emu started away toward their destination.
The bull’s voice rose to a bellow. “Make no mistake, this is war. It has always been war, and now is the time to fight.”
“Those fucking cattle are stupid, and that bull is the worst of them.”
Jasper clucked, his beak rattling in indignation.
“Too many growth hormones have addled their brains. How the hell are any of us going to fight the humans without opposable thumbs?”
The clouds cleared. The heat haze shimmered in their wake. Luke stared out into the distance.
“Why do we need to be opposed to the humans? Why can’t animals and humans just get along? We give them our meat after the allotted time.”
His eyes brimmed with tears. “It is so pointless.”
“I agree… but the humans are hardwired to take. They know nothing else.” He ruffled his feathers in irritation. “The sooner you learn that the world isn’t fair, the sooner you’ll learn how to deal with it Luke.”
Dun Dee lifted his head from where it was buried beneath his left wing, scratching an itch that never seemed to go away.
“He’s right mate. We’ve no choice but to take from the weaker humans before the soldiers come. We may as well make the best of it while we still can.”
“You don’t know that” Luke hissed.
The wind whistled through the afternoon heat, a sigh of surrender from the day’s swelter. The trio stared down the road to the silver blur of the Diner.
“Ok brothers, here’s the plan.” Jasper scratched a crude square in the dirt. “Once we enter you and Luke spread out to block anyone from leaving. I will cover the chef and strike hard and fast if he makes a move for one of those knives. I don’t need to remind you what happened to Salty.”
Tears sprang back to Luke’s eyes as he remembered their friend. A small green caterpillar laboured across the dust-field of the road to the shelter of the Spinifex.
“If any of those humans goes for a pocket phone, or a gun, or anything, claw them… quick and quiet. Speed is our only advantage over them. Right?”
Jasper pecked Luke hard. “I said right.”
“Right” repeated Luke in the glare of his yellow eyes.
Luke turned to peck up the caterpillar. He froze as it reared up and a shrill tiny voice piped out through the lonely scrub land.
“Don’t eat me.” Antenna waved and compound eyes stared into his. “The insects have joined the great awakening.”
The end.
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