Jim Plop
by Jill Kristofferson

My father had always been crazy about crows so one day he decided to get himself one. He went out into the back yard and after some time he found a nest of fledglings. He climbed up a large Douglas Fir to reach the nest where he snatched up a baby crow and stuffed it into his big pocket. When he got home he made this crow a cage which had all the comforts of home: light bulb to keep warm, water to drink and food to eat. After the cage was finished and the crow was in his new home, father called everybody into the laundry room, which was where the cage was kept, to tell everyone that the crow's name was Jim.

As the days and weeks went by, we all watched Jim grow into a large black crow. By this time, he was flying all over the house and outside of the house getting into all kinds of trouble. Jim loved to poke at cigarette packages. If you put your cigarette package down anywhere, Jim would be there in a flash to poke and poke until every cigarette had holes in it. He would also steal everything that was shiny in the house, especially spoons. Then he would hide it outside somewhere, but he always brought back some other piece of junk to replace what he had taken. Sometimes, Jim would dive at you if you had something he wanted. Because Jim had freedom to fly anywhere in the house he would also do his dirty jobs whenever and wherever he liked. That is why we renamed him Jim Plop.

One Christmas holiday, in the year of 1968, my father had a drink or two too much which we very seldom saw. In the kitchen my father took Jim Plop and put him in the fridge and then put the turkey in the cage. About an hour later we found the bird in the fridge, and boy was he mad. Come spring, Jim flew outside a lot and one day he just didn't come home. We just figured that the call of Mother Nature must have come upon him.

Background Information Is there one type of animal you really like? Did you have a special pet as a child? Or did you have a very annoying pet as a child? Talk about what pets do for us and what can happen when a pet runs away or dies.

Questions

1. Is it a good idea to take a baby bird out of its nest?

2. How did Father give the crow all the comforts of home?

3. What does the word fledgling mean?

4. Make the word bulb plural.

5. What kind of trouble did Jim get into?

6. Why did father put Jim in the fridge?

7. Would any of Jim's activities make you angry?

8. Why did the children rename Jim?

9. Use the word figured in a sentence.

10. What do you think the call of Mother Nature is?