Ryoga peered along the shoreline.  As far as he could see was wreckage.  The
problem was, the damage wasn't the typical stuff you expect to find in
Nerima.  The holes were too small.  In fact, the street signs giving
distances in miles were beginning to give him doubt that he was in Tokyo at
all.

He approached a small town, noting that nearly every building had some
damage to the roof.  Some sort of white substance covered nearly everything.
He picked up some of the stuff for a closer look.  It was almost like a
smelly white paint had been dropped from an airplane.  He dropped the piece
distastefully.

He thought the town was deserted.  Then he saw a couple of people sneaking
around, as if afraid to be seen outside.  Each time he saw someone, they
were darting into the same building.  He casually walked to the building,
ignoring the unusually large number of birds that were perched on the roof.

He opened the door to see everyone huddled in the corner, looking fearfully
at the holes in the ceiling.  "Excuse me," he began.  "Can anyone tell me
how to get to Nerima?"

A frightened young woman put her finger to her mouth and shushed him.

Ryoga looked up through the ceiling and only saw an unusually large number
of birds, mostly pigeons, roosting in the attic.  Having been the town hero
more than once, Ryoga thought the people might be more helpful to him if he
took care of whatever was frightening them.  "What's the matter?"

A couple of the people looked at him like he was speaking a foreign
language.  One of the older men said something in English that Ryoga didn't
understand.  A couple of the townspeople chuckled uneasily.  A young woman
of Japanese descent pushed her way into the open.  She was constantly
looking upwards, as if expecting an attack from UFOs at any moment.  She
quietly tiptoed to Ryoga and whispered to him in Japanese.  "You must be
very quiet.  We don't want to disturb them."

Ryoga looked back up at the birds in the rafters.  "You mean the birds?"

The woman shivered at his last two words.  "Many people have been attacked
by them.  There are so many of them that some people have died from bird
attacks."

Ryoga glanced upwards sceptically.  "Those little things?  Haven't you tried
to exterminate them?"

"Yeah...you know, you'd be amazed at some of the attacks people use on
pigeons around here..." the woman paused.  "You'd be amazed at some of the
attacks the pigeons use, too."

Ryoga shook his head.  "I've met some strange townspeople before, but I am
amazed at this place."

The woman blinked and for a moment forgot about the pigeons.  "You've been
to places like this?"

Ryoga nodded.  "I once saved a town in Hokkaido from a giant, wild boar."

The woman's eyes filled with hope.  "Oh, could you help us, then?"

Ryoga looked up at the pigeons again.   Most of them appeared to be
sleeping.  "What can I do?"

"There is a building not far from here.  Most of us are afraid to go near it
now, but there is a large sack there.  If you could carry the sack out of
town, the birds might follow you."

Ryoga walked casually over to the building the woman had pointed out.  It
had been emptied out, but was one of the few buildlings that seemed to have
its roof intact.  Inside, he found a large, canvas sack with the English
words "bird seed" on the front.  Shrugging, he carried the sack out of the
building and down the road, not paying any attention to the contents slowly
spilling out or the number of birds that were suddenly following him.

He paused at the edge of town and tried to understand what the sign said.
Not only was the sign partially covered in bird dung, but it also was in
English.  Ryoga shrugged.  "I guess I'm further away from Tokyo than I
thought," he said to himself as he continued on.  He hadn't gotten any help
from the people, but he knew that directions didn't do him much good anway.

The sign became a perch for the hordes of birds that were now following
Ryoga.  Under the weight of the large numbers, the sign fell over.  Several
birds pecked at the words "Now leaving: The Land of Mr. Hitchcock."


=====================================

I suppose you might have to be a Hitchcock fan to recognise the reference
to the old black and white horror film, "The Birds."

-Andy Searls
  graduate, Borg Institute of Technology

If violence is not solving your
problems you're just not using enough of it.
     -Misato

/********************************************
When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.
********************************************/

http://www.jps.net/searlsa