Rachel soared high above the treetops looking down at the beautiful patchwork quilt of the farmlands below her. It was a beautiful sight compared to the bottom of the filthy nest she had just departed. She breathed in the clean, fresh ozone. It was such a pleasant smell compared to a bird nest full of bird shit. She was euphoric to the point of forgetting her hunger, at least for a while. She spent an hour swooping down through the bushy, summer treetops and back up into the fluffy, cumulus filled sky. She did a few loops, an immelman turn, a split-S, a lomchevek and a three turn spin. She was exhilarated. She descended and flew low, following a stream. She was flying just a few feet above the water when saw some minnows playing near the shallow bank. That's when she remembered her hunger and decided to have a seafood snack to tide her over until she could have the grub dinner so etched into her brain.

Rachel stood very still in knee deep water, her eyes locked onto a fat minnow that seemed to be molesting some of the smaller, skinnier ones. The minnows weren't playing after all, she realized, they were trying to escape from their tormenter. She chose this bully for her snack and patiently waited for him to get within beaks reach. It was a while before this happened, but when it did, Rachel snapped him out of the water in a millisecond and carried him to dry land. She held the Shad on the ground with her talons and said, "see how you like these apples, big boy. I'm gonna teach you a lesson you'll never forget." With that, she ripped his head off with her beak, threw her head back, and swallowed. "Ahhh," she sighed, "at last." She sat down and savored the rest of her meal slowly.

As Rachel was scratching the remains of the rogue minnow back into the water, she was startled to hear the swooshing sound of wings flapping behind her. She turned quickly, just in time to see a Peregrine Falcon touch down on the bank of the stream a few feet away.

The Falcon walked toward her slowly, adjusting his pistol and flashlight, sticking his chest out so she could see his sheriff's badge. "Hello young lady," he said in a deep, put on voice. You could tell.

"Hi," Rachel said meekly.

"You must be new around these parts. I don't think I seed you here before." The Falcon tried to hide his southern drawl, but it only made it worse.

"Yes I am. I just stopped in for a bite to eat. Is that okay?"

"Oh, yeah, it's okay. I just wanted to warn you, though, that this ain't no safe place for a nice looking young chick like you to be hanging out. This is a bad neighborhood. There's a lot of bad birds that hang around here. I'm surprised you didn't see any of them. They musta seed me, though, and got scared and left. They do that. They's a-scared uv th' law. They'll be back, though, as soon as I leave. I can't stay here all the time, ya know. They're a tough bunch too. They liables to rape you and steal your valuables," Sheriff Peregrine was eyeballing Rachel up and down as he spoke.

"Well sir, I appreciate your concern and your warning me about this place. I certainly don't want to get raped and have my valuables stolen." Rachel said meekly.

"Okay, m'am, now you take care and keep a keen eye out for them hoodlums." The falcon turned, strutted off a few steps, adjusted his flashlight and pistol once more and took off majestically, climbing steeply back to his perch high in an oak tree.

Rachel finished cleaning up the area where she'd had her seafood snack. She kept glancing up at Sheriff Peregrine and every time she did he'd move his head quickly away from looking at her.

After she made sure everything was spic-an-span, she was a tidy-bird, Rachel took off. She spiraled upward, keeping one eye on the Sheriff, and he was ogling her all the time.

No sir ree bob, Rachel thought, I sure don't want to start off my life by associating with a bad crowd.

But she did!

A few days later, after she had adventured around in the forest enjoying all the new sights and the luscious meals, Rachel had her first brush with danger.

Because her parents had not taken time from their busy schedule at the bar-stump to teach her and her brothers everything they should've known about surviving in this perilous world on their own, Rachel was direly lacking in survival skills. She didn't know what she was doing when she made one terribly bad decision.

One evening Rachel was so tired from flying around seeing all the sights, she decided she'd better sleep close to the ground that night. She had been roosting high in the tall trees for a few nights and just the night before she had been so exhausted she'd lost her grip and fallen from her perch. She knew she could have been badly injured if she hadn't awakened halfway to the ground. It had scared her out of her wits. But no more of that, she thought, as she flew down to the bed of the forest and selected a limb about two feet above the ground. She scratched a pile of dry leaves underneath the limb, stood back and thought, if I fall tonight, it won't hurt a bit.

As darkness fell on the forest, Rachel settled in for a good nights sleep. Tomorrow, she thought, I will begin constructing my nest. The opening day of mating season is not far away. She smiled as she ruffled her feathers, relaxed her tired little wings and fell into a pleasant slumber.

As a full moon rose above the tree tops to illuminate the earth with its soft, ethereal glow, the forest became active with silent predators slithering and creeping along the ground under the low limbs searching for their evening meal. Unbeknownst to Rachel, she was the prime target for one of these stealthy carnivores. Dessert!

Vinnie Viper, a giant among his species, was moving silently through the forest. He slithered across the matted leaves, up and over fallen limbs and tree trunks, and suddenly he came to an abrupt halt. His base instincts had detected the warmth of something delicious nearby. He stayed very still for a moment as his primitive brain calculated the direction and distance this treat was located. He'd already eaten too much on this day--a ground squirrel and two field mice--but dieting wasn't one of Vinnie's interests. He was fat and happy, and enjoyed being that way. He didn't care what they said about him behind his back, calling him 'tubby' and 'fatty.' Whatever he was now homing in on now was fresh, he could tell, and young, he knew, and he knew that he would not sleep a wink until he'd devoured whatever this delicious morsel was. After all the data was processed in his primordial brain, Vinnie glanced upward and to the left and there it was. Silhouetted in the moonlight no more than six feet away, a tender, sweet, young warbler was sleeping peacefully. Vinnie"s eyes widened and he flicked his tongue, salivating at the sight of Rachel. He moved toward the trunk of the tree slowly, careful not to make a sound. He was very professional at this, but even an experienced serpent would rattle a dry leaf or flip up a twig every now and then.

Rachel stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes just a tiny slit. She looked around drowsily, thinking for a second that she'd heard a faint sound in the forest. She decided, in her half conscious state, that it was just a leaf rustling in the evening breeze. There was no breeze.

Vinnie spiraled slowly and silently upward around the small tree trunk until he arrived at the limb where Rachel was roosting. He headed straight out the limb, eyes intently focused on Rachel. As he neared his prey, he opened his gigantic mouth, his bottom jaw sliding along the limb and his upper jaw extending upward, higher than Rachel's head. The procedure was rather simple. When Vinnie felt his bottom lip touch Rachel's talon, a signal would be sent to his brain notifying it to pull the trigger. The strong muscles of his jaw would then slam his gaping mouth closed around his dessert. Vinnie could hardly wait. His saliva glands were fairly gushing. Slowly, slowly, he neared his prey. He could almost taste the Warbler, feel her panic in his mouth--he loved that, the fluttering, the screaming. And then, the touch, the signal, the trigger was pulled and Vinnie's mouth slammed shut with a thud. Empty!

Tommy Thrush had been out drinking fig-slush, eating amphedagnats and willow fly larva all afternoon, and he was higher'n a kite. He was cautiously making his way home just after nightfall, taking back routes, keeping a keen eye out for Sheriff Peregrine. He was about halfway to his boarding nest when he decided to stop for a breather and lit on the limb immediately above Rachel. He was just about to close his eyes for a short nap when he glanced down and saw Vinnie Viper's mouth agape and a young warbler just a few inches away. Tommy's primitive instincts of survival took over. With the two primary survival options laid out before him, 'fight' or ‘flight,' Tommy chose the latter. The young warbler was of no concern to him. The snake was, however, and in his panic Tommy sprung straight up, crashing into a limb that was directly above him. He ricocheted off the limb and plunged downward. He hit Rachel on the way down, knocking her from Vinnie's mouth a split second before it slammed shut. Tommy and Rachel continued downward together, landing in a heap on the pile of leaves Rachel had gathered.

Vinnie Viper, startled and disappointed, gritted his fangs, did a u-turn, spiraled around the rear end of his own body, finally got straightened out and slithered up to the top of the tree where he coiled up for the night. "I'll get that bitch sooner or later," he murmured as he dosed off, "I'll get that little bitch--and that goddam drunk Thrush too."

Tommy Thrush and Rachel Warbler rolled around on the ground trying to untangle themselves from each other--both in a state of panic. Rachel had no idea what was going on, and Tommy, in his drunken state, thought the viper had somehow caught him. Both kept trying to push the other away and they finally succeeded. Tommy took a quick look at Rachel, then looked all around for the snake and didn't see it. He stared wide-eyed at Rachel for a second, then said hurriedly, "C'mon gal, we gotta get the hell outta here. There's the biggest fucking snake I ever seen in my life around here somewhere." Then he quickly added, "er uh, it's a good thing I come along when I did and saved your ass. He was about to gobble you up."

Rachel didn't have time to think of anything to say because Tommy Thrush immediately took off, and in her confused state, Rachel instinctively took off immediately behind him. She didn't know why she was following this Thrush, and many times later, she would wish that she hadn't.

Rachel had a hard time keeping Tommy in her sight because he was wobbling around so much in his flight path and it didn't help much that it was nighttime. If the full moon hadn't been donating it's light to the forest, she would have never been able to arrive at Tommy's place like she did.

She lit on a limb next to Tommy and looked around. They were perched on a high limb in a tall banyan tree. She noticed that where the limb and trunk joined there was an old abandoned Storks nest. After Rachel had taken a couple of deep breaths and settled down a little, she asked, "What was going on back there?"

"You didn't see that snake?" Tommy asked, eyeing her up and down.

"I haven't seen any snakes."

"Well sir, I was out for my evening flight, exercise ya know, I try to keep in shape, and I spotted this humongus pit viper roaming around down there on the ground. I didn't pay much attention to him cause I ain't afraid of snakes myself, but they can be dangerous if they hungry. Well anyway, I was about to go on about my business when I spotted you perched on that limb snoozing–-what's yo name, anyway?"

"Rachel Warbler."

"Tommy Thrush. Anyway, that viper was about fifteen feet away from you and looked like he might be headed in your direction. Well sir, I decided I'd better circle around a little while and see what the dude was up to. When I seen him turn and head in your direction, I figured he might be up to something. What were you doing roosting down so low, anyway?"

"Well, last night I fell off of a high limb in my sleep. I figured it would be much safer for me to roost close to the ground in case I fell again." Rachel said.

"Well, you must be pretty stupid or something. Didn't your parents ever teach you anything about snakes?" Tommy looked at her, puzzled.

"Never heard of 'em."

"Well, I'll tell ya one thing, gal, It's a good thing I came along when I did. Anyway, when I sees him run up that tree real fast, and head out that limb toward you like greased lightening, I dove down as fast as I could and snatched you right out of his mouth just in the nick of time. It was a close call." Tommy puffed out his chest a little. "It was a mighty close call."

"Well, I sure do appreciate it. I'm sorry I'm so dumb, but my parents were so busy raising three boys they didn't spend a whole lot of time teaching me anything."

"They oughta be turned in for that." Tommy started walking down the limb toward the old deserted Storks nest. "C'mon, lets go inside."

"Is this your place?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, this is my boarding-nest." He hopped up onto the rim of the gigantic nest and Rachel followed.

Rachel glanced around the interior of the nest and noticed there was bird shit all over the place. About the only place birds ever shit besides the inside of their nests is on human's automobiles and statues.

"This place is sort of a mess, ain't it?" Rachel said.

"Yeah, well, a couple of my tenants 'sposed to keep it clean to offset their rent payment, but they a little lax in their duties sometimes. I have to jump on their asses about it all the time, well, about once a month, anyway." Tommy hopped down into the nest.

Rachel followed him, looked around and noticed three young girly-birds laying on one side of the gigantic nest sleeping peacefully. "Who're they?" she asked.

"Just some of my tenants," Tommy said. "There's a few more, but they're out working now." He walked around the perimeter of the nest away from the girly-birds, and Rachel followed him into a little kitchenette. "Want something to drink?" Tommy asked. The sudden rush of adrenaline from his seeing the snake had sobered Tommy up considerably and he was ready for a nip.

"Not right this second. I really need to use the bathroom, though," Rachel said.

"It's the third limb down, out near the end," Tommy pointed a pinfeather toward the north.

"Thanks," Rachel said, hopping up on the rim of the nest and fluttering down to the bathroom limb.

Tommy crept up to the rim of the nest and peeped over the edge. He could see her in the moonlight as she slid down her panties and squatted on the limb. His heart pounded with lust as he spied on the young chick. She's beautiful, he thought, and young, probably a virgin. He was rubbing his crotch with a pinfeather when she finished peeing, stood up, and pulled up her panties. Tommy hurried back down into the nest and was sitting at a little dinette table when Rachel returned.

Rachel sat down across from Tommy and said, "You know, I guess I'd better be going now. I gotta wake up early and start building my nest tomorrow. The opening day of mating season is not far away."

"Yeah, I know, I'm looking forward to it." Tommy said. "That's the only day of the year that means anything to me. The rest is all a grind."

"I guess. This is my first nest, "Rachel said, "and I'm pretty excited about it."

She is a virgin, Tommy thought, man oh man. "You sure you wouldn't like to have a little drink?"

"A little drink of what?"

"It's some fig-slush I brought home from the bar-stump. It'll make you sleep better." Tommy opened a little refrigerator and took out a small container of amber colored, syrupy looking goop. "Here, take a sip."

"I don't think I need anything to make me sleep better. After that ordeal with the snake and all, I'd probably be better off staying awake the rest of the night."

"You can stay here. It's safe. I ain't never seen a snake in this neighborhood. I'll watch you, er, over you while you get a good nights sleep. This stuff will make you sleep soundly, and tomorrow morning you'll wake up peppy and ready to go, ready to build that nest of yours. Your first nest, you say?"

"Yes, my first. Well, with your having saved my life already tonight I sort of hate to impose on you any more. But if you insist, and you're sure it's no trouble, I guess I could spend the night." Rachel hesitantly took a sip of the slush and made a frown with her beak. "Man, that stuff's awful."

"Yeah, I know. The first sip always is, but you'll get used to it in no time." Tommy took a healthy gulp and placed the container between them on the little table.

Rachel slumped in her chair a little as the alcohol molecules began to reach her tiny brain. "That stuff is relaxing, though, ain't it? I'll tell you one thing, I've really enjoyed these past few days since I've been out on my own. I never imagined how it would be to have regular meals and all this freedom. It's great."

"Yeah, know what you mean. Freedom is a wonderful thing, ‘specially when you don't have it for a while," Tommy said, recalling for a second the miserable time he'd spent in the aviary.

Tommy pushed the fig-slush toward her. "Have another sip. It's settled. You're staying here for the night, and every night until you finish your nest. Okay?"

"It sounds like a good plan to me. You sure I won't be in the way. I don't have any money for rent. Will you let me help the others clean your boarding-nest to offset the rent?"

Tommy Thrush reached across the little table and stroked Rachel's wing lovingly with a pinfeather. "My dear, your presence here in my humble abode is payment enough. Have a drink." He nudged the fig-slush a little closer.

Rachel took another sip and again she made a face. "Man, I don't think I could ever get used to this stuff."

But she did!