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We were chatting, on the front deck;
sun high above, no clouds in the sky,
no breeze, no wind.
Flowers in all their radiant beauty,
trees full of fruit, but
where are the birds?
Teenagers under the tree, one, two, three,
young children running around, playing and laughing,
Mitzi, the dog, sprawled out under the hedge,
A normal suburban day. All is quiet and calm,.
Sounds, what sounds: there are none.
It was eery, weird, unexplainable.
2
You look up into the sky. What do you see, nothing.
no clouds absolutely nothing Where are the birds?
All of a sudden you can hear noises like a train
coming along the road banging into whatever is in front of it,
or a plane crashing into the neighbour’s house.
The sound was so tremendous and frightening.
Being thrown across the room; tables and chairs going in another direction.
Hanging plants crashing to the ground.
On the road you could hear people screaming
Mummy, mummy”, the children scream. as they ran towards the house
“What’s happening,are you OK?” I yelled.
Teenagers crying; they’ve been attacked by fruit.falling from the trees.
Mitzi, yelping, trying to beat the children into the house.
Cars, buses, lining the road, banging into each other.
People jumping out and running. Where? No one knows.
EARTHQUAKE!!”, EARTHQUAKE someone yells, from across the road.
People running and yelling, trying to find something to hold on to, unsure of what to do.
Roads moving, trees swaying, the lemons - oh, my poor lemons - none to be seen.
The noise is so loud, I can’t hear myself.
BOOM! BOOM! RATTLE! RATTLE!
It starts again, the sound so unreal.
More screaming. More loud bangs Oh, how horrible!
The sun is gone. It is only 3.00 p.m. The sky is grey,
there is drizzling rain, it’s getting darker. Where are the birds?
3
Gazing around the lounge where
I had slept. Family arriving
through the night.
Blankets, clothes, food and all.
Children crying, Mum is tired. Dad is grumpy
Lounge is the biggest, and best place for everyone to sleep.
Bread, butter, even yesterday’s milk will do.
Hungry? There’s Weetbix. That will do. Why not.?
No water, no power, No toilet, no shower..
No radio, TV, news, or information.
The city is in complete darkness.
It is chaos.
There are cars going around,
people with loudspeakers,
“is anyone hurt, do you need help?”.
People going from door to door,
offering assistance.
Checking cars, trucks
for anyone inside;
Watching out for looters.
Where are the birds?
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