Streak

By Leila Hayes

Streak is an ambitious young seagull, eager to make his way in the world beyond his nursery home. Since learning to fly, Streak has admired the adult seagulls across the bay. His goal is to become a member of their colony.

As he grows, he ensures he’s the fastest and highest-flying gull in the nursery flock. When he believes he’s ready, he happily leaves his parents, teachers, and the other young gulls and flies to the island across the bay. Unfortunately, the adult seagulls there don’t greet him warmly. Even though their leader, Onnorsos, is kinder to him, he’s not welcome to join their colony. Fortunately for the disappointed young gull, a Cormorant named Dastfee, a friend of Onnorsos, invites him to live on the outskirts of her colony. Streak accepts the invitation, but still hopes to become a member of the gull colony he’s admired.

Not long after Streak settles in, Dastfee learns of a plot to overthrow Onnorsos. Dastfee asks Streak to help protect Onnorsos by using his ability to fly higher and faster than all of the other gulls. She entrusts Streak with a mission to determine what the plot involves, so Onnorsos can be warned of the threat. Streak is happy to help. He hopes it will prove his loyalty to the leader and finally enable him to reach his goal of becoming a member of the Onnorsos colony.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Aug 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9781504314398

Leila Hayes

As a professional singer, LEILA HAYES performed around Australia, and on popular TV variety shows. As an actress she had major roles in many popular television series, including The Sullivans – Power Without Glory – Prisoner (Cell Block H). She received a prestigious industry award for her starring role as Beryl Palmer in the (still) popular Sons and Daughters. When Sons and Daughters ended production, she opened The Leila Hayes Drama Studio and apart from teaching, she wrote, produced and directed plays and movies to highlight her students’ talents. During this time, she also wrote children’s stories. Leila also had her own column in an industry magazine and hosted her own talk-back radio show “New Day Australia With Leila Hayes”. After a sea change in 2014, she began writing Streak - based on the seagulls she would see every day at Balmoral Beach in New South Wales.

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Copyright © 2018 Leila Hayes.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Balboa Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-1438-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-1439-8 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 08/20/2018

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Glossary

About The Author

Acknowledgements

To Melissa, for your inspiration and encouragement,

and to Lucian and Liam, for always enjoying my stories.

And just because …

Nonna

No bird soars too high

If he soars with his own wings.

—William Blake

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1

The young seagulls played happily around their rocky nursery home. They were growing bigger and stronger each day. Their feathers were beginning to change colour from the brown tones of adolescent birds, to the silvery white and grey feathers of an adult.

Whilst they were in the nursery flock, the young gulls were taught how to fly and dive by the male elders assigned to watch over them. It was their parents’ responsibility to teach them hunting skills. The eager students were taught how to drop hard-shelled oysters or mussels onto rocks to break them open and reveal the prized food inside. But their favourite was stamping on the ground to make earthworms think it was raining and come to the surface.

During the young gulls’ training, the elders noticed one student flying higher and faster around the nursery flocks’ secluded beach, than any of the other birds in their care. After watching him closely for a while, it was decided the talented youngster should be known as Streak.

As time went by, the elders also noticed that even though it was usual for seagulls in nursery flocks to stay together until they were old enough to breed, Streak seemed eager to leave the safety of his flock and make his way in the world.

Actually, the young gull had already decided that once he mastered the art of flying and the vital skills needed for hunting food, he would leave his nursery home and become a member of the gull colony that lived on a rocky outcrop across the bay. He often watched them flying above the sea near his home, and he marvelled at