Goldfield Writers Group - Love or Theft in the Goldfields

Sneak Double Post!

From the previous meeting, the homework for the month was "Write about Love or Theft in the Goldfields (500 words maximum).

As such...

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I first noticed them maybe a month or two ago. I had made a brief stop in the tea room. The glass on the corridor looks out to a blocked-in courtyard. Two pigeons sitting on the dirt, in the sunlight that projected between the shadows of the building and the shade of the tree. I thought that this was quite strange, at first. There were perfectly good branches that sat in the sun and this area is a common, and perfect, place for cats to stalk. These two birds, however, were unphased by such trivialities. They were perfectly confident... A good thing to be when you are in your own home. It amused me for a few moments, while my cup cooled enough to drink. I moved on.

Over the course of a few weeks, I noticed that they rarely sat in the tree. Almost always on the ground. I also noticed that it was always only two of them. Never a third, never just one, always the two. I wondered if they were mates. I couldn't remember exactly, but I had always thought that pigeons had very defining male/female features. My memory says that the male pigeons are usually more colourful and slightly larger. Looking at these two, I can't tell one apart from the other.
They occasionally wandered around, scratching and picking at the grass and grit. Every now and then, one would look over at the other and they would pause, sharing the time together in some form of silent communication.

One overcast day, the groundskeepers stripped the overgrown grasses and weeds from the area. They tore through the ground, stealing up the rocks and flora. I spotted the pigeons sitting in a gutter that overhangs the area. They sat there patiently as the destruction of their grounds continued beneath them, occasionally giving a sideways glance down monitor the proceedings.

I did not see them for another week.

I had thought them gone permanently until I took the time to look properly. They were back at it again, picking in the ground. They stopped every now and then, looking at each other in quiet observation. They then look up at me. I see their eyes, knowing nothing of what passes between the two. They move on again, walking over the ground. Sitting together.