Kokki Cormorant

By Frank Kirtley

Adventures of a very hansom cormorant who knows the difference between cod and herring.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frank Kirtley
• Release date: May 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463073216

Frank Kirtley

Born in the North East of England. In my teens heard Eric Burdon singing "We've got to get out of this place" and left on hitch hiking tour of Europe to look at buildings. Went to Manchester. Was in the university until the revolution of 1968. It was a gas! Thrown out and went to the great Architectural Association - now there's a school - in London. Couldn't make money in, nor did I fit in, architects' offices so tried other avenues. Have been an underground pipe designer, a property manager, and latterly an expert witness in delay mitigation. Had one job where my budget was a million dollars a day (I never managed to spend it. It's quite difficult, you know). Have lived in 27 houses in 6 countries in 31 years of marriage. My wife tells my son, "Don't worry - your dad doesn't know what he wants to be yet". I want to be a writer.

Book preview

KOKKI CORMORANT

by

Frank Kirtley

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2018 by Frank Kirtley

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 9780463073216

This book is for adults under 11 only.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Sue Littleford for her editing. Sue is the best editor this side of the Yukon.

Also thanks to Maggie for tons of help in so many ways, and the encouragement. For being bossy when she needed to be.

And thanks to Peter Trotter for saving the bird’s life and teaching me how birds think.

This one is for Kristian Kirtley.

Chapter 1

Struggle!

Don’t go to sleep.

Fight!

His eyes were tight closed. He rose and fell to the rhythm of the slushing sound. He could hear the pebbles rolling.

His head rolled to one side.

Don’t go to sleep. DON’T!

Where was Malcolm? With effort he lifted his head and opened his eyes. He couldn’t move his body now. He looked around for his brother. Malcolm was two yards away but may as well have been on the moon. He was rising and falling too but it seemed a little further up the beach. The tide had turned. Malcolm always said that he didn’t feel the cold, but he looked cold now.

Malcolm! Kokki screeched. No movement.

Malcolm! Don’t go to sleep! Did he move his head or was it the sea? Try again. No, don’t you go to sleep. You have to help Malcolm.

Malcolm!

He watched. Nothing.

Mal….

I can hear you, Kokki, said Malcolm. Don’t waste your breath shouting. Try not to go to sleep.

You OK?

Yes. I think so.

Can you move?

… er… no. Can you?

Kokki really tried. He’d been trying for hours but the more he tried the bigger the mess he seemed to get into.

A bit.

1

Kokki.

What?

I think that we’ve had it.

Don’t say that, Malcolm. And don’t go to sleep.

You’ve just been sleeping, Kokki. You were snoring.

Have you looked at yourself, Malcolm?

Yes. Have you?

Yes.

What a mess, Malcolm thought.

We’ll never get out of this one, Kokki, Malcolm’s voice was soft and gentle.

Don’t give up, Malcolm. Kokki was getting frantic.

What could they do? The oil was black, sticky and weighed much more than them. Huge lumps stuck to their wings and bodies and feet. Every movement gave it