Dead Pigeons by Sam Luka

[Moejoe]

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Here's the opening, looks like its going to be around 6,000 words

That morning I was killing time waiting for a sign painter. I was Oh for six on tossing cards into a my hat when I noticed Steinbeck.

Least I noticed what Steinbeck had in his jaws.

The pigeon's head flopped to one side limply, neck broken. No blood. Steinbeck had shaken the poor bird to death.

“Well? What do you want from me, a treat?” I said.

Steinbeck looked at me as though I'd broken a promise.

“You know it's not polite to go around killing pigeons, anybody ever told you that?”

If they had, Steinbeck wasn't aware of it. He took a few cautionary steps toward me, then dropped the dead bird at my feet. He nudged the corpse forward with the tip of his wet nose.

“It's a city pigeon, you know that, boy? Can't do much with a city pigeon 'cept maybe fly 'em in a race or—“

The sun caught and bounced off the silver band fixed to the pigeon's ankle.

I leaned forward, hoping, praying that the metal ring wouldn't have an owner's name punched into the surface. This was my day to get my business in check. Sign painter before eleven, then a ride out to Fresno to meet the money behind my café. I didn't have time for dead pigeons.

And I couldn't ignore one either, not if Steinbeck had any say in the matter.

He rolled the corpse toward me with the tip of his nose and sat back with a big doggy grin on his face. Least it looked that way to me.

“Are you enjoying this?” I said.

He barked.

“I bet you think this is a real hoot don't you?”

He barked twice and wagged his tail. There was no hooting.

“Fine, fine I'll take a look, stop wagging that damn tail and...” I let the words drift as I stooped and snatched the bird from the ground.

What I was going to do when I had the name and the number off the band was anybody's guess. I was hoping that whoever owned the damn bird was too far away to care.

Life never goes in a straight line.

There was no name, no number etched into the metal, but attached to the underside of the band was a cylinder. And inside that cylinder a rolled up piece of paper. And on that piece of paper?

I gave Steinbeck a long, hard stare.

“Sometimes I think I should trade you in for a cat, you know that? A cat wouldn't drop this kind of problem in my lap, no sir.”

At the mention of a cat, Steinbeck stopped wagging his tail and lowered his head ready for action.

And I went back to the note.

Four letters were scratched into the yellowing paper.

H E L P

[Moejoe]

Oh, and to make this all the more fun I'm compiling a 'fake' pulp history of Sam Luka (my pseudonym) and how these 'lost stories' were found. I'm loving this, so thanks to mtravellerh, zelda_pinwheel, dreams and rlparker for spurring this one on

[Kess]

Great start! Can't wait to read more.

Nice to see city pigeons being useful for something.

[zelda_pinwheel]

i'm sucked in already, moejoe ! i can't wait to read the whole story, and the other ones. this is brilliant ! i'm so glad you're doing it !!

[ravenlife]

very good start Mr Luka,

left me wanting more.

also like the cover moejoe

[Moejoe]

This is more and more fun, I've invented a publishing company (named after my dearly departed Jack Russell) and I'm going to tie it all in with the fake history of Sam Luka. Oh, and here's another cover I've been working on

[dreams]

**still trying to be patient**

Love your fake pub. company logo..Gemma.

EDIT: I am referring to the black and white logo of gemma in the middle..... I always like KISS (Keep It Simple Sweetie).

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by dreams

**still trying to be patient**

Love your fake pub. company logo..Gemma.

Don't worry it'll be tonight for this first short This is my whole problem with writing, I get very excited and carried away...I have a whole history for Sam now and a backstory about finding the 'lost manuscripts' and how gemma crime was....wheels within wheels...

[Moejoe]

Oh and here's the pd image I found that I'm thinking of using as 'thought to be the only surviving picture of the writer Sam Luka'

[zelda_pinwheel]

now i'm REALLY getting excited. i may have to cancel all my plans for this weekend and just stay home and read.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

now i'm REALLY getting excited. i may have to cancel all my plans for this weekend and just stay home and read.

Don't do that!!!! It's only a story after all...

[Moejoe]

And yet another cover

[Moe The Cat]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

now i'm REALLY getting excited. i may have to cancel all my plans for this weekend and just stay home and read.

You can't cancel your plans! You have to show up (in spirit) at the Toronto Meet-up ... you can't do that sitting on your sofa ... wait a minute, yes you can ...

[Moejoe]

Here's a little bit more of a teaser. I'm near to completion, but I like this sentence, so I'll put it here

I blew smoke out into the empty café, watching the silver cloud twist and give punctuation to my thoughts.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

I blew smoke out into the empty café, watching the silver cloud twist and give punctuation to my thoughts.

What a great sentence. It instantly produced a picture in my mind. (for some reason it was an instant flash of a 1930's or 1940's black and white pic. And since I am familiar with the Fresno area of that era, in family photos, it was easy to picture )