He raked and raked and raked the leaves. Time stole warm months like the cruelest of thieves.
Winter was hard, harder since his wife passed. He was burdened by loneliness, felt like an outcast.
One cold morning, he heard a knock at his door. He found a large feather and nothing more.
An hour or so later, he again heard a knock. It was a woman with a kind face, wanting to talk.
He stared at her face and couldn’t believe his eyes. She looked like his wife before she met her demise.
As he welcomed her in, she wore the biggest smile. He so badly hoped that she’d stay for a while.
The gracious host presented offerings of cakes and teas. He then felt a feather tickle the back of his knees.
He turned ‘round to check on his smiley guest. To his surprise, she was no longer looking her best.
There was nothing kind or beautiful about what he saw. Just huge eyes, a sharp beak, and a disgusting claw.
Out from him came a guttural scream as his eyes got plucked out by the strange, feathered fiend.
She gulped his eyes down and grabbed the man by his shirt. She was saving his tongue for her favorite dessert.
Off the creature flew with the man in her claw. Soon back at her nest, she made a loud caw.
Before her appeared her ravenous hatchlings. They dug into the man and feasted like kings.
Thank goodness they filled their rumbling bellies before bed. For it would be a long, dark winter ahead.