Billingsly by Braithwaite E. R.;

Author:Braithwaite, E. R.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media Young Readers
Published: 2013-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Four

AS USUAL, BILLINGSLY SPENT the morning on his comfortable cushion observing the very busy goings-on in the garden. The grey cat from next door wandered along the edge of the lawn, stopping from time to time to gaze longingly at the birds, his tail twitching, his head turning from side to side to follow their movement; they always seemed to be quite out of reach.

Whenever he approached the privet hedge the sparrows would twitter excitedly and dart off all together into the magnolia tree where they would wait until he was gone.

Billingsly wondered if anyone else noticed or cared about what was happening in the garden. Two nuthatches were creeping along the thick branches of the magnolia tree, searching each crack and crevice in the bark for hidden insects, pecking and chirping with each discovery.

Now and then an ant would appear on a thick green leaf, hurrying this way and that, before disappearing over the edge onto the other side. There was movement everywhere and if you were not very watchful you were likely to miss some of it. Billingsly did not want to miss any of it. He wanted to see everything so that he would have much to tell Lisbeth when she came home from school.

A robin landed on the lawn and remained quite still, its head tilted sideways, listening. Suddenly it took a few quick steps, stuck its beak among the short grass and pulled a long, twisting worm from the ground. Another robin just as quickly appeared and moved forward as if to seize the worm, but the first robin took a better grip on its twisting prize and flew away.

Some starlings appeared, the sunlight glinting on their shiny feathers as they searched among the short grass for insects. What nervous birds they are, thought Billingsly, always looking this way and that, never still, pecking and looking about as if afraid of their own shadows. One of them spotted a yellow butterfly as it landed on a low bush and ran towards it, but the lazy-looking butterfly darted about, just out of reach of the starling which soon gave up the chase and returned to its fellows, pecking and scratching in the short grass.

A wasp bumped itself against the window pane as if trying to find a way indoors. Billingsly noticed that several magnolia blossoms which had been round and tight earlier in the morning had now opened up like large yellow saucers offering a welcome to the busy bees.

A striped caterpillar dangled briefly from a silken thread before landing on the window ledge; Billingsly could see the shiny hairs all over its body as it hurried along. It had moved hardly more than a few inches when a starling appeared, snapped it up and flew off, squawking happily at its good luck.

Some brown, dead leaves, loosened by the wind, fell from the magnolia tree onto the lawn. A squirrel ran to inspect each one as if hoping it might be something worth eating, then, disappointed, continued his search for hidden nuts.

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