War Of The Nestbox

• Patricia Bordos, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2009

The mother bird, in this case Coffey, is always protective towards her nest and babies. When we put the nestbox in Coffey and Coco's cage, Coco was the first to investigate it. He used to go in every day, every day that is until Coffey came. That's when the real war started.
When Coffey went in the nestbox, Coco wasn't allowed in. He made the mistake of going in a few times, and this is what happened:
Coffey hadn't laid any eggs yet, but she was going in the nestbox quite often now. I could hear rustling and soft banging coming from inside the box, but I wasn't quite sure what was happening in there. One day, while Coffey was in the nestbox, Coco decided to go in too. It got really quiet for a second, then I started to hear hissing. Soon all I could hear was banging and chirping coming form inside the nestbox. All of a sudden feathers started coming out of the entrance hole, and soon after that, Coco came out, his feathers all ruffled up. He tried to make a run for the cage wall, hoping that he could climb up and reach the bar, but Coffey was quicker, and immediately caught him. She grabbed him by the base of the tail and pulled him back in. It was like she was saying, "Get back in here, I’m not done with you yet!" I started to laugh, then the banging started up again. This time Coco did get to the wall quick enough, but his feathers were badly messed up. He looked so cute and fluffy, but not to Coffey. She charged out of the nestbox, opening her beak and giving him a warning hiss. He gave his body a quick shake, then started to preen himself. The same thing happened a few times, until Coco realised that going inside the nestbox while Coffey was in there, in fact, going inside the nestbox at all meant danger. The nestbox was forbidden to Coco. Coffey was the only one that could enter it, and that was final!