Fleeced by Hazel Edwards

two hours, they stopped for lunch. Stan had been nibbling from his pack for the last half hour. He carried seeds, nuts and dried fruit snacks.
    Bird food,’ said Gertrude dismissively. ‘Have a piece of my chocolate.’
    The snacking reminded Amy of the diabetic chocolate wrapper. She checked. Gertrude’s chocolate wrapper was ordinary.
    â€˜D’you ever eat chocolate without sugar?’
    Gertrude shook her head, ‘My son does. He’s diabetic.’
    â€˜There’s the lunch hut !’ pointed Zoe who was walking last to keep them moving.
    â€˜And the loo,’ said Mum thankfully.
    The wooden hut roof peaked out between the dense bush. The Falls were behind and rushing water could be heard. Another guide had hot water ready. The first arrivals made their own coffee , chocolate or hot soup.
    But locals were also waiting. Lunch turned into a bird snack attack!
    â€˜Don’t feed the kea,’ warned Zoe. ‘They mustn’t learn to depend upon us for food.’
    While Zoe was speaking, a kea walked behind Christopher , pecked his map and took off, the folded map between his beak.
    â€˜Dumb bird.’ Christopher chased him.’You can’t eat that!’ The bird fluttered upwards and sat on a branch, just out of reach.
    Hiroshi whipped out his camera. ‘Photo opportunity!’
    â€˜Maybe the kea doesn’t know where he’s going.’ Amy laughed as Christopher grabbed back his bird-beaked map. There were little beak marks on the plastic cover. ‘He’ll be a Mac Kea Burger if he’s not careful,’ threatened Christopher.
    â€˜Please?’ Hiroshi indicated that he wanted Christopher’s photo holding the beaked map bag.
    Christopher posed.
    Another kea hopped across and pecked near Stan who was flicking through his bird book, checking something.
    â€˜Look out!’ The bird took Stan’s orange, rolling it along the ground like a ball.
    â€˜Wants to play soccer... or rugby?’
    â€˜Wrong shaped ball,’ joked Big Jon.
    â€˜Mountain parrot. That’s what they are. There’s one kea story I’ll never forget ...’ As Dr Al told his story, another big, greyish-green bird walked up as if it owned the place. ‘They’re cheeky thieves,’ continued Dr Al.
    â€˜Work in pairs. Like con artists. One distracts you and the other takes the food. The story goes that some bird smugglers tried to take a couple of kea out through the airport. Our birds are worth a lot when sold to secret collectors in Europe. Drugged them ,of course, but the birds woke up early. One pecked out of the carry-on bag while the other pecked the smugglers’ passport. They were caught and swore they’d never carry kea illegally again. ‘
    Everybody laughed as Dr Al bit his meat sandwich.
    â€˜Was that true?’ asked Stan.
    â€˜Con merchants. Thieves, with charm, that’s what the keas are,’ winked Dr Al.
    â€˜What a scam!’ Mum filmed the kea hopping near Stan. ‘Fleeced by a bird!’
    â€˜Ninety percent of smuggled birds die in transit, so it’s a very cruel trade,’ added Zoe looking at Stan who was fiddling with his binoculars now.
    â€˜Bird lovers exist worldwide.’ replied Stan.
    The twins weren’t sure what he meant by that. Did he think birds like keas should be smuggled out of New Zealand?
    Camera ready, Mum had been watching the kea closely. ‘You’ve heard of ‘meals on wheels?’
    Amy nodded. They were meals delivered for oldies stuck in their own homes.
    Just then a kea hopped away with part of Dr Al’s meat sandwich.
    â€˜Well, instead of meals -on-wheels, there goes your lunch- on- legs,’ Mum followed with the camera.
    â€˜Meals in flight,’ added Zoe. Like Mum, Zoe enjoyed word-games.
    Christopher wondered if any birds were vegetarian. That kea ate the meat sandwich, so it wasn’t. And then the kea’s mate stole