[1468] The Kookaburra's Mate [revised]

Hullo me lovelies.

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We’re back at it again with the Australian stories. This piece has been submitted on here before, but I want to give it one last round of edits before I shelve it. I still feel as if there's a lot of room for tweaks and improvements in this piece, but I’m pretty much at the limit of what I can do on my own, so please help me out! The biggest issue raised last time was language economy, i.e. trimming the fat. I've made some big cuts so hopefully that’s improved in this iteration, but please tell me if that’s not the case.

This piece requires a strong familiarity with Australian culture to understand some of the images and ideas, so I’m going to try to help you out because I feel as if a lot of the story’s content would be lost without it. I recommend you look at this photo of a Laughing Kookaburra, as well as listen to its laugh, because the entire story revolves around the characters of the kookaburras.

Otherwise, here’s a brief dictionary of the uniquely Australian terms used in this piece for you to refer to when you run into unfamiliar language:

RSL - Returned and Services League: where old war-veterans go to drink and gamble on slot-machines. Think a small-town pub. Typically associated with suburbia/the country, and old men in their 70s-80s.

Coles - a supermarket chain.

Getting on a fair bit - aging, getting towards the end of their lives.

Flown the coop - moved out of home, left the proverbial nest.

Pardalote - rare Australian bird, spotted pardalotes burrow nests into the soft dirt of river walls, and sometimes gardens.

For the mods: 2369 banked, but it’s a month old so I wrote a 480 one as well. If this is insufficient, let me know and I’ll write another (so long as I’m awake).

A huge thanks to anyone who reads or critiques this, and I wish you all the best with your writing!