Fandango’s FFC is to write a story 300 words or less to the following picture:

This past winter the bird feeder has been a lifesaver for many critters in the area. The least welcome to feast have been the crows. Big, shiny, bossy, and voracious, they were decimating the food for the others. I decided to consult crow expert, Marina Gabor.

She said, “The advice I give you today is free, dahling. Simply build yourself a scarecrow. Crows hate them and will go nowhere near them. One important thing you must do to the scarecrow is a sage smudge on it for seven days in a row. This prevents complications.”

When I asked her what she meant by complications, she said, “Just do it and there won’t be any.”

It took me a week to build and right about that time I was almost out of bird food. A storm was coming. I had a decision to make. I could go out and get more food and start the smudging on the scarecrow before the storm hit. Or, I could put the scarecrow out now, wait to do the smudging, and keep the feeders stocked until after the storm. I chose the latter.

Madame Gabor was right, not one crow came near the feeders! The arctic storm started just before dusk. By 10pm, there were near whiteout conditions and the wind was howling. The plows came through about 11pm. I put extra logs on the fire and was in bed by 11:30.

I fell asleep quickly. I awoke at some point and realized the power was out. Sitting up I fumbled for my phone and lit it up. It was midnight. Looking up, a darkly clad menacing figure stood at the foot of my bed, a strange light behind it.

It’s expression was flat and dead. It whispered, “Take the scarecrow down before morning.”