As the Crow Flies — Stop 2

The store had baskets of food on display outside and was very busy with people doing their daily shop. The shopkeeper was busy wrapping butter and sugar in paper for people to take home. As Mr Pickles pecked at a heel of bread which someone had dropped he tilted his head to the sound of children laughing.

It was the end of the school morning at The New Connexion Methodist School on the corner with Roughtown Road. Children were hurrying to get to their shift at the nearby mills.

One of the girls shouted, “Bye bye Mr Pickles!” and the crow wondered how she knew his name!

Then he realised she was waving to a smartly dressed, smiling man and remembered that the school was known as Pickle’s School after it’s much loved headmaster. It had actually been built by a mill owner who referred to it as a “British School” but still everyone called it Pickle’s School.

This amused Mr Pickles the crow so much that he started doing a little dance to himself until he realised he had a whole crowd of children laughing and pointing - so he flew up to the top of chimney blushing under his feathers!