Short story, not very original. Just a reminder.
A girl sat on a bench by herself and now and then a bird appeared, pecked around and flew off again. Minding her own business, the girl opens a package of crackers and birds start showing up at her feet, on the bench, and occasionally they jump onto her shoulder and off again… legs too.
“Don’t worry, I’ll share some of my food…” and she takes some crackers in her small hand to drop on the ground and before she can a bigger bird lands on her wrist lowering her arm and almost throwing her off balance.
She leans further over to drop the crackers politely and more birds fly in as well as more than one homeless person.
There is a COMMOTION!!! Birds are flapping wings, the girl is SCREAMING as they get caught in her hair. Her arms are swinging all around her and one homeless person grabs them saying, “Girl, don’t hurt the birds.” And some birds draw blood on her arms and face.
The other homeless person leans over to push birds aside to grab scattered crackers… clutching them tight and then giving them out as if they were theirs… now smaller pieces, even partially damp and dirty from being taken off the ground.
What should happen next is a police officer or other reliable adult runs up and chases the commotion off the child and helps them get to safety. The reality is, more adults may show up and knock out the child and kidnap them, ask for ransom from whoever they can get money from. Not even seeking out friends and family. Could be months before that child gets home. In the Twilight Zone… they may never get home or have crackers on a bench again.
This does qualify as a short horror story near to the upcoming Halloween nights. It is to remind parents and youths to keep an eye out for each other and not allow violence to be commonplace. *Thinking about it some more: IF Gandalf the White(a wizard from Tolkien’s writings) showed up, he would have likely sent away every thing living but the girl and one deserving bird, then stepped back and be gone to allow the girl and bird peace between them.