Photo Gallery Photos from chapters 1-4

It was a beautiful, warm day at the Norwalk Seaport.  The sky was bright blue and little puffy white clouds drifted slowly along overhead.  The seaport was very busy.  There were lots of boats making their way out of the harbor toward Long Island Sound where the people aboard would spend the day sailing or fishing or enjoying some quiet time relaxing on the waves.  

Seymour the seagull was enjoying the lovely day too.  He was practicing his flying skills.  He was flying high into the sky and drifting along on the air currents and then having fun diving.  He looked down at the seaport and then dove as fast as he could, just leveling off before he hit the surface of the water.  Then Seymour decided to practice his landings.  He flew up high and looked for a target.  He circled in a wide arc and landed very gracefully on top of a mooring post at the edge of the oyster dock.  Seymour was very proud of himself, and he puffed out his chest and flapped his wings in celebration looking around to see if any of the other seagulls had noticed how clever he was. 

Seymour rested contentedly for some time on the post enjoying the view and the sparkling water.  Then he noticed that his tummy was rumbling.  He was rather hungry.  

 “Hey! What should I have for lunch today?  He asked aloud.  “I’m starving!”  Seymour loved living near Long Island Sound.  There was usually lots to eat.  Sometimes he nibbled on some fish that had washed up on shore.  Sometimes he ate little crabs and snails which were caught in tide pools at low tide.  Sometimes people at the beach threw food for him to eat.  He would eat bread, French fries, crackers and popcorn.  But today, there was nothing.   “I don’t see anything to eat today.  The tide is high so there are no tide pools to explore.  There is nothing washed up on the beach and today no people want to share their food with me.  They are too busy having fun and splashing in the water.  NO FAIR!  I’m hungry!  I want something good to eat!”

Poor Seymour.  His tummy was rumbling so.  What was he going to do?  Just then Seymour spotted the oyster boat coming.  It was returning from the oyster beds in Long Island Sound.  It came closer and closer to the dock and finally pulled right up to where Seymour was standing on his post.  He watched as the oystermen secured the ropes to the mooring cleats on the dock.   Oh, WOW!!!  Look at all those oysters.  The oystermen have filled all those crates all the way to the top.  There must be thousands of oysters on that boat.”  Seymour sniffed.  “And they smell delicious!  Hmmm…maybe I’ll just take one.  There are so many, they won’t miss one, surely. Seymour flew from his perch and stole an oyster right off the top of the pile and flew away with it in his beak.  He flew to a quiet beach on one of the little islands in the harbor and settled the oyster in the sand.  He was very pleased with himself.  Here was lunch and he was so hungry.  But then Seymour looked very puzzled.   “Wait a minute.  How am I supposed to open this thing?  Let’s see…okay, let me try something.”  Seymour bent down closer to the oyster and called, “HELLO…HELLO…open up!  HELLO…is anybody home?”  He waited but nothing happened.  “Hmmm…now what?  “Er…OPEN SESAME!!!”  Seymour waited but nothing happened.  “Nothing!  That was a long shot anyway.  What else can I try?  Ah, I know!”  The hungry seagull backed away a few feet from the oyster and then hopped toward it quickly flapping his wings.  “BOO!”  he shouted.  “BOO…BOO…BOO!!”  But still the oyster remained tightly closed.   

Just then, a blue crab came crawling over.  Blue crab was curious.  Whatever was this seagull trying to do?  Seymour noticed the crab.   “Oh, hey!  Blue crab, perhaps you could help me.”   “I’ll certainly try.”   “I’m very hungry and I’d like to eat this tasty oyster but…well you see…this is rather embarrassing…but I don’t exactly know how to open it.”   “Can’t say that I do either,” said the crab.  “But when I’m hungry I grab at things with my sharp claws.  That usually works.”   “With your claws you say.  Well thank you crab.  I’ll try that.”   “Good luck seagull,” blue crab called as he scurried away. Seymour looked at the oyster and then down at his legs.  He had claws on the ends of his webbed feet.  Maybe it would work.  He began poking at the oyster with his feet.  He poked and scratched at the shell of the oyster and tried to pry it open, but his little claws broke and chipped and his feet became very sore.     “OH…OUCH…OUCH…OUCH!!  Well, this is not working.  It just won’t open, and my poor feet are hurting me.”  Seymour was sad.  He was still hungry and here was a tasty oyster still all closed up tight.   “Now what can I do?”  

Very slowly, crawling along the ocean floor was a curious sea star.  She had been watching Seymour’s antics and had to find out what was going on.  Seymour saw her as she inched up the beach.     “Oh, sea star.  Maybe you can help me.”   “What are you trying to do with that oyster? Asked sea star.   “I’m trying to get it open.  You see I am very hungry and this oyster smells so good, but I cannot open it.  Blue crab tried to help me telling me to try my claws bit it didn’t work and now I have sore feet and no lunch!”  Seymour sounded like he was close to tears.   “No, no, no, seagull.  Claws won’t open that oyster.  I’ll tell you what I do to open it up.   “Really?  You can open oysters?  Oh, tell me, tell me please.”   “It’s very easy for me.  I just wrap my arms around the oyster and then I squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and pretty soon the shell opens up…just a little tiny bit.  That’s all I need!  Let me tell you how I then eat the oyster…I push my stomach out of my mouth and then I…”   “Oh yuck!  I don’t think I want to hear how you eat the oyster, but thanks for the advice on how to open it.  I will try that.”   “Okay seagull.  Good luck!”  With that the sea star turned and slowly moved back into the water.   “Now, let’s see.  Sea star said that she squeezes the oyster open.  Maybe if I wrap my wings around it and hug it really, really tight…”  Seymour spread out his wings and wrapped them around the oyster.  He hugged and hugged and squeezed and squeezed until he turned red in the face but when he checked the oyster shell, there was not even a tiny crack.  He tried again and again and squeezed until his wings ached but still, he could not open the oyster.  

Seymour was getting upset.  He sat and looked at the oyster and thought for a while.  What could he do to open this oyster?  Suddenly, he got an idea!   “I know! I’ll use my beak.  My beak is sharp and strong.  Surely I can crack the oyster open with my beak!”  Seymour approached the oyster and pecked at is sharply with his beak.  Over and over again he pecked.  He pecked the side.  He pecked the top.  He pecked the bottom, but the oyster would not open.  He pecked at the front of the oyster.  He pecked at the back but still the oyster stayed tightly closed.  Seymour sat down with a sigh.   “Ow!  My poor aching beak and I have a headache!”  Poor Seymour was very sad and also rather angry.   “This silly oyster!  Look at my poor feet.  My claws are sore and chipped, my wings ache, my beak hurts, and my head is throbbing!  AND I’m still hungry! 

 That’s it!  I’m done trying to open this oyster!” Seymour hoped over, picked up the oyster in his beak and flew up very high.  He flew around looking for a nice hard surface.  There was a nice big, paved parking lot near the dock where the oyster boats were unloading.  He flapped his wings holding himself steady in the air over the parking lot and then he let the oyster drop from his beak.   “Look out below!”  He cried.  The oyster fell and hit the pavement.  The shell broke and cracked open.  Seymour looked down in amazement.   “HEY!”  Look at that!  The oyster shell has broken open.  Look there’s the tasty oyster inside!  There’s my lunch at last!!”  Seymour flew down and began gobbling up the oyster.  He patted his tummy with his wing when he had finished a looked over at the oyster boat filled with oysters.   “Look at all those oysters!  An endless supply.  Now that I know how to open oyster, I’ll never be hungry again!”  Seymour patted his stomach again and flew away looking for a nice, cozy place to take a nap.