Rice Watching

A story about watching rice.

It was a sunny day. My family got rice as a gift from one of my farmer relatives. Not the white rice which you can boil then eat, no. They were brown. The brown was just a cover my parents said, but it didn’t look like one. The brown cover looked sealed shut. I took one rice, and tried to strike white gold. I bit the cover, used a sharp pencil as leverage and, eventually got frustrated and cut the rice open.

The cross section showed a white center and the brown cover still intact. It was like the brown cover was a part of the white. They couldn’t be separated. It needs the sun my parents said. Next, we setup a rectangular plastic on the roof to spread the rice. Once the grains was spread in a seemingly even thickness, I was told to “watch the rice”. “Its rice, I don’t think it’ll fly away.” I goofed.

I was home that day, everyone else were out. I went to check on the rice, it didn’t look like any grain even attempted to fly away. Suddenly, a pigeon flew into view. He couldn’t see me, I was behind a glass plane. The pigeon turned it head around and swiftly walked over to the rice and pecked into the heap. I was awe struck, the pigeon didn’t care about the brown covers. I looked at him pecking away into the grains of rice, eating.

I was startled, then I realized I need to “watch the rice”. I quickly pulled opened the sliding glass door and ran wildly at the pigeon. One glimpse of me and the pigeon was already in the air, flying as far from me as possible. I looked around and, on the ledges, saw other pigeons staring at the grains intently, I chased them off too. I now realized the significance of the task at hand. I armed myself with a metal rod I found, did a couple of swings to try out my new weapon, and sat down next to the rice.

I had to pee. The toilet was 2 whole floors below the roof. I decided to wait. The sun was blazing intensely. I felt really dehydrated and I needed something to cover my face from the scorching heat. I decided to make a run for it. I planned my route carefully, I would go to the toilet first, get a bottle of water from the kitchen and pop into my room to grab a thin layer of cloth. I left my weapon besides the grains as an attempt to warn the pigeons.

I was back within 5 minutes with a bottle of water, a packet of raw noodles and a thin cloth. By the time I reached the balcony door, about 5 pigeons were having a go at the rice. I hesitantly ran them off. They flew around my house, one complete rotation and sat down by a ledge not far from where I was. I scared them off again, this time by swinging my weapon around, and they were nowhere to be seen. I sat down by the rice and wished I had brought a book. I decided to sleep in the sun.

When I got up, the pigeons were back. I was too tired to chase them off. Instead I began eating the raw noodles that I brought. By the time I was done, the pigeons were still staring at the rice, then at me. I felt sorry for the birds. I took a handful of rice and cast it towards the pigeons. All of them quickly went for the grains. I swung my weapon after they were done eating and waved them bye as they flew away.

I checked on the rice. The covers were definitely beginning to open or at least beginning to loosen. The sun was almost by the horizon. The heat was not that strong. I decided to pull the rice inside, I held on to the rectangular plastic and slowly pulled the heap inside. Once the glass door was slide shut. I head to my room, two more days of rice watching I think the grains will be ready. 

Reviews

[Sara Lufrano]

This was fun. Definitely a different activity than I've ever read. I like that he gave the birds some rice after running them off so much too. Very nice, thank you for the read!