MANY MANY YEARS AGO
Far above the city sidewalk we see a small nest of chicks in a crow's nest. Chirping and cuddling one another as the mother crow launches off in search for food. Playfully pecking at one another, one of the chicks climbs to the edge of the nest to move away from the others when he suddenly looses his footing. The chick starts to flap it's undeveloped wings desperately as he spirals down to the pavement below.
THUMP!
The baby crow lands on the ground hard but survives the fall. In too much pain to move, the chick rolls over to find it's feet to try and stand. Collapsing forward and tries again to get up. The bird maneuvers itself to get a better grip to stand and continues to struggle, falling over and starting again.
A loud second TUMP! next to the bird we see his sibling fall to it's death after leaping from the nest. The chick slowly moves over to the other bird's lifeless body and nudges her with his beak to her wing. The body of the other bird is completely unresponsive. The baby chick saddened yet knows he has to find his way back home somehow. When suddenly we hear an ear-splitting screeching sound from behind:
“Rrrreeeeer!"
A white cat with one yellow eye and one blue eye, pounces forward and snatches up the dead bird next to the chick and turns towards the baby chick barely able to walk and slowly drops the dead bird from his mouth while eyeing the chick in front of him. The chick pulls his head back as his eyes grow wide in fear. The cat leans forward in an attack pose when another cat leaps into the mix with a growl and attacks the first cat. A cat fight starts as they both fight for the dead bird, playing a game of tug of war with the dead chick ripping it in half and tearing it's limbs out and wings apart.
Horrified the living chick starts to move away from the fight quickly to get away while limping and falling over as the cat with the two different eyes grabs the other cat by the throat and rips it's jugular out spraying blood all over the cats face. The cat then turns back towards the chick, the chick looks back at the cat covered in scratches and a blood soaked face looking at him. The chick struggles to move faster. The cat leaps forward grabs the bird clutching him into his mouth piercing the bird with it's sharp teeth and runs with the bird in it's mouth across a busy road.
SLAM!
A car slams into the side of the cat, knocking the bird from it's mouth and throwing the baby chick into a nearby gutter. The cat takes a heavy hit, yet lives and runs off. The baby chick lays in the gutter bleeding from the bites and he passes out.
2 DAYS LATER
We see an extreme close-up on the bird's eye open, then closes and opens again like a shutter on a camera. The baby bird lays there breathing as it wakes, days later from the attack. He tries to get up from the gutter, but can't move. He lays there paralyzed as maggots feed on his open wounds from the cat bite. Helpless and dying he stares up towards the sky looking for his old home.
Moments later, a young girl named Kerry, around nine or so with long dark hair pulled up in a ponytail comes walking by with her friend Darren, also around the same age. Darren and Kerry were walking home from school when they spot the dying bird.
She quickly points down at the bird and says, "Look! A birdie. He looks hurt, we have to save it.
Darren says, "Don't touch it, you'll get rabies or something and your face will fall off."
Kerry pulls out her 'Lords of Acid' lunch box, scoops the bird up with a few napkins from inside and places the bird in the box before returning home.
Kerry and Darren are in the kitchen with the bird as we watch Kerry clean the bird's wounds and pulling the maggots out with a fine-tip tweezer. The bird stays completely still and lets her fix him occasionally crying out softly.
A FEW WEEKS LATER
The bird is getting better, wounds are healing, the baby crow is growing fast. Kerry is playing fetch with the bird, tossing bits of food toward the bird watching him catch it with his beak. Kerry's mother walks into the room.
Kerry's mother says, "What you've done with this bird is remarkable. I don't know any other nine year old that could have done what you've done here with this little crow. I'm very proud of you, but you know that this is not his home. Crows are wild animals and it's even illegal for us to have him here."
Kerry responds, "I know, but he's still healing, he needs more time, just a little more time, then we'll let him go."
Mother replies, "Ok, a little more time, then we let him go. Have you given him a name yet?"
Kerry says, "I was thinking 'Ears' because he can hear really well. What do you think?
Mother injects, "I was thinking 'Secouru' in French it means 'rescued'."
Kerry agrees, "Secouru. I do like that, maybe Ru for short."
2 WEEKS LATER
Kerry and Darren are at the park with Ru. Ru has been growing at a rapid pace, Almost fully grown. Darren looks at Kerry and asks, "So are we going to see if this bird can fly?"
Kerry pulls the bird out of his little cage and says, "Well Ru, it's time to leave the nest." She sets Ru on the grass and says, "Fly Ru fly."
The bird walks out and turns back towards Kerry. "Go birdie go! Shoo go fly." She yells. Ru starts flapping his wings then walks back over to Kerry and leans his head into her leg.
Darren suggests, "I don't think he's ready to leave you. Maybe he's not flying because he's not in the air. I could climb that tree and toss him in the air."
Kerry agrees and watches as Darren climbs the tree as high as he can get. Once he makes it to the top, he pulls the bird out, extends his arms and cups his hands as if they were a nest holding the bird up.
Darren talking to the bird says, "Ok Ru, you need to fly, ok?." Ru cocks his head back, blinks at Darren and turns back forward for flight. Darren opens his hands, Ru flaps his wings and barrels straight down slamming face first into the grass below.
Darren screams down from the tree, "Kerry, I think I killed your bird."
Kerry steps forward and looks down at Ru, "Nope, he's still alive."
2 WEEKS LATER
Darren and Kerry at the park with Ru. Ru is now taking flight, Flying around the two kids and diving towards bugs and other things it can eat. Ru then leaps from a tree glides towards Kerry and perfectly lands on her shoulder. He then turns and perches facing Darren.
Darren says with his mouth wide open in shock, "Whoa. He's perched on your shoulder... He's perched on your shoulder. Are you seeing this!?"
Kerry turns her head towards Ru, "He loves me."
3 MONTHS LATER
Kerry is sitting in her room drawing at her desk. Ru flies up and lands on her window sill, fully grown, turns to Kerry and blinks. Kerry opens the window up.
Talking to the crow, "Hey Ru. did you come to visit?" Ru lightly pecks her arm and runs his head against her skin. She pets his little head with her fingers, "I love you too."
THE NEXT DAY
It's dark out the full moon is seen and there is lightning storm taking place. We see a familiar stray cat with two different colored eyes digging through trash cans in a nearby ally.
Thunder Strikes.
KABOOM!
A crack of lightning illuminates the silhouette of a perched crow standing large across the brick wall in the alleyway. The cat looks up and the wall is suddenly blank. The cat starts pawing his way into a bag of old beignets.
We see Ru perched on a fire escape, high above, watching and waiting. The cat rips into the bag and powder sugar covers his face as he feasts on the goods.
CRACK!
A bright light flashes across the alley The cat turns and sees Ru above and behind him. The cat hisses as he pulls back.
Ru screams out, "KAW!"
Ru dive bombs towards the cat and hits him hard. The cat jumps back and Ru takes flight straight up. The cat then stumbles back as he notices a long tear at his side, bleeding.
Ru blinks, blood drips from his beak. Ru stands perched in a dead light fixture, monitoring the cat. The cat, now ready for battle, starts walking around looking up at Ru. Ru drops like a bomber from the rainy night sky, flying past the cat, skimming him again with his beak.
The cat paws the blood from his face. Looks back up and growls at Ru. Ru dives back towards the cat, this time the cat is ready for him and swats his claws into the side of Ru. Ru slams into the side of the trash can. The cat pounced on top of Ru as he tries to get up. Water splashing everywhere.
The cat drives a sharp claw into the center of Ru's left eye. Ru swings his wing into the cat's face and leaps back to take flight. Ru shoots up, but then loses his direction after the loss of his eye, landing on the dumpster's edge. He looks down and sees the cat preparing for another round, wet and soaked by the rain.
Ru takes wing back up above the cat, flying, circling in the rain, then sees his opportunity and attacks, beak first slamming into the cat's face. The cat bats him down mid-flight and Ru hits the ground hard. The Cat jumps on top of him and starts to tear Ru apart. The cat rips Ru's right wing completely off, Ru pecks the cats eye out, then claws his way to escape.
The cat being too strong for Ru, he punches Ru in the chest with his claws, feathers everywhere, Ru screams out. Ru's body SLAMS into the trash can, the cat sticks his claws straight into Ru's belly, Ru looks up and sees bricks being pushed to the end of the scaffolding. Ru, swings back SLAPS the cat in the face with his only wing.
The cat falls back, Ru bounces up off the ground, lunging his whole body into the metal scaffolding legs. The push was hard enough to move the bricks off the wooden planks and fall straight down CRUSHING the cat's head. Ru falls over and passes out.
THE NEXT MORNING
Ru wakes from the puddle of water and blood he was laying in, beat up, bruised, missing a wing and an eye. Stabbed to near death. He slowly drags himself out of the Alleyway. The sun is now out, it's hot, but the streets are still damp. He can see Kerry and Darren across the street coming out of Kerry's home. He feels helpless as he lays down. He watches the kids play outside.
A car pulls up. A man in a black suit gets out, he walks around the car, looks down and sees the dying bird. He reaches down and picks Ru up and puts him in his outside suit pocket. He then returns back to the drivers side of the car, looks out at Darren and Kerry as he waves to them. The kid's wave back.
The man turns back towards the car to get in. As we see his face, it's Frank Bacon. He gets in the car, pops a few pills and drives off.
Darren turns to Kerry, "Who was that?"
Kerry, "I thought, you knew him."
The End.
Darren
A Frank Bacon Made Me Do It story
