Nama : Muhammad Yusuf Geofani

NIM : 5160711158
Kelas : Integrated English B
Birdy and the Seagulls

A story about a black crow called Birdy. Birdy is the best friend of a boy called Jake - and
one of the many special things about Birdy is that he can talk. And nobody believes that
Birdy can communicate with him. One morning, very early, Jake was lying in bed, listening
to the rain pitter pattering on the roof. As he was lying there, he felt something cold on his
nose. He rubbed it with his finger. It was wet, like a drop of water. And then another drop
landed on his nose.

He looked up and saw yet another drop of water clinging to the ceiling. When it was getting-
up time, and Mum arrived, his bed was already soaking and calling his dad Their house had a
butterfly roof. Dad climbed out through a hatch and looked around for a hole. It was raining
hard and he was getting extremely wet and the roof was rather slippery.

He was about to give up and go back down the hatch when a bird, sheltering from the wind
by the chimney, cawed at him.

“I know you,” said Dad. “You’re Birdy, the crow that Jake likes to talk to.”

The bird flapped its wings and hopped across the sloping roof. He stopped where some tiles
were out of place and even worse, the felt underneath them was torn. And then he recalled
that a man had been up on the roof at the end of summer to look for a wasp’s nest.

When he arrived at work, Dad looked on the internet and found a roofing company. He called
and arranged a visit. That evening, a man from the company came round. He had an
extremely large tummy. Jake said:

“How are you going to get through the hatch onto the roof?”

“Oh you won’t catch me going up on the roof,” said the man. “Far too dangerous. I’ll just
stick my head out and take a look.”

Which is what he did. He stood on the step ladder and put his head through the hatch. When
he had been looking for a couple of minutes, there was a very loud cry from somewhere
above his head.

He ducked down quickly. “Seagulls!” he said, alarmed.

“Seagulls?” We’re miles from the sea,” said Jake.

“Yes, but that doesn’t stop ‘em coming inland and making their nests in the chimneys of
town houses,” he said. “A real hazzard they are, those seagulls. Crazy aggressive!”

“The lad that has to go up on the roof will be. How would you like to be working high up
with those great big angry birds buzzing around your head? It ain’t nice, is it?”

Jake’s bedroom ceiling continued to drip for the next three days. When Jake returned home
from school, the roofers were packing up their van.

“Did you fix the roof?” he asked. “Because it’s been leaking onto my bed.”
Nama : Muhammad Yusuf Geofani
NIM : 5160711158
Kelas : Integrated English B
“Sorry,” said one of the men. “We couldn’t get much done today. The seagulls were
bothering us non-stop.”

Jake saw mum rolling her eyes. She clearly thought these roofers were rather pathetic to be
bothered by seagulls. One of the men saw her expression.

“It’s alright for you Mrs. You don’t have to go up there and fight em off.”

“Come back tomorrow. They won’t bother you. I promise,” said Jake.

When they were gone, Mum asked, “What makes you think the seagulls won’t be as naughty
tomorrow as they were today?”

“Cos I’m going to talk to Birdy,” said Jake.

He went up to his room, and waited for his friend to call round, which he usually did in the
early evening.

Just after six, Birdy tapped at the window.

“What’s up?” he cawed.

“The seagulls keep attacking the roofers,” said Jake. “And my ceiling is still dripping every
time it rains.”

He went off to negotiate with the family of gulls. Fifteen minutes later he returned and said:

“They’ve agreed to let the roofers work tomorrow so long as they don’t come near the
chimney.”

“Great thanks,” said Jake.

“And they say that if you have any sardines, they would be glad for you to leave them on the
garden table. They’re miles away from the sea and it’s hard to find decent fresh fish. The
scraps from the bin outside the fish and chip shop really don’t cut it.”

“Right, I’ll ask Mum.” said Jake. He went downstairs and passed on the message about the
sardines.

“Well it’s not a bad idea,” she said. “It might distract the seagulls from attacking the men.
The only problem is, when they’ve finished eating, they might go back to annoying them.”

“Birdy says they won’t,” said Jake.

“Well oh-kay,” said Mum, doubtfully. “I suppose it’s worth a try.”

And so the next morning, after she had dropped Jake off at school, she stopped by at the
supermarket and bought some sardines for the seagulls, and lots of teabags and chocolate
digestive biscuits for the roofers. The seagulls were extremely grateful for the sardines.

When Jake came home, the roof was fixed. His ceiling still smelt a little damp, but Mum said
that after it had dried out in a week or so, the decorator would come round and fix it.
Nama : Muhammad Yusuf Geofani
NIM : 5160711158
Kelas : Integrated English B
“You see, I told you that Birdy had negotiated a truce with the gulls,” he said.

“Yes, you did,” agreed Mum.

He had not seen Birdy for a week, and was delighted when he tapped on the window. He
seemed excited and was hopping back and forth from one leg to the other. This time it was
Jake who asked, “What’s up?”

“I’ll say what’s up,” said Birdy. “Some burglars cut through the French doors round the back
of number 14 and are looking around for stuff to steal.”

“Wow!” said Jake. “I’ll get Mum to call the police.” And he immediately ran downstairs and
called out, “Mum! Birdy says there are burglars climbing into number 14. Call the police!!”

“I can’t do that,” said Mum. “If I say a little bird told us that burglars are at work, they’ll
think I’m a loony and time waster.”

“Oh,” said Jake. “But Birdy’s right. He always is.”

“Oh Jake!” said Mum. “I can’t go by what a bird says.”

Just then, Jake heard Dad come in through the front door with the shopping from the
supermarket. “Dad, Birdy says there are burglars at number 14. What shall we do?”

“Well I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a long week and want to go back to bed for a nice
nap,” said Dad.

When he returned to his room, Birdy was gone. Jake fixed his gaze on Number 14. It was not
long before two men came out wearing motorbike helmets. They were both carrying bags and
soon jumped onto mopeds. Three seagulls dive bombed them. The men tried to fight off the
aerial attack. One gull flapped in front of the lead biker’s visa, and another swooped down
and crashed into the side of his head with its talons, while a third pecked at the second biker’s
gloves. It wasn’t long before the burglar came off his bike and the second went skidding
across the road and crashed into a gatepost. A Georgian silver teapot rolled out of one bag
followed by an antique French carriage clock, which landed on the pavement and smashed
into pieces.

Jake called out of his window: “Go-on Gulls, get’em.” His dad came into the room to ask
what was going on. “Look!” said Jake. Dad looked out onto the street and saw the men
fighting off the gulls who were trying to cut off their retreat.

“Well I never,” said Dad. “I never knew seagulls could be so aggressive.”

“Only against roofers and burglars,” said Jake.

“What makes you think the are burglars?” asked Dad.

“Because they took Mr Joseland’s clock and his teapot,” said Jake.

“Ah, come on!” said Dad.

Nama : Muhammad Yusuf Geofani
NIM : 5160711158
Kelas : Integrated English B
But just then, two police cars with blue flashing lights skidded around the corner. Four
officers jumped out and pounced on the burglars.

“Cawww!” said Birdy,” who had just landed on Jake’s window sill.

“Well done Birdy, you called the gulls and told them to catch the burglars.”

“Caw!”agreed the black feathered bird.

“Which is a lot more than Mum or Dad would do,” added Jake.

“Well,” said Dad, “well, err….” but he did not know what to say, so he sheepishly left Jake’s
room and went to lie down. “Those gulls,” he muttered to himself. “Really aggressive. Who
would have thought it?”

And that was the story of Bridy and the Seagulls written for Storynory by Bertie and read by
me