For The BirdsBy Stephen King from Bred Any Good Rooks Lately Okay this is a science fiction joke. It seems like in 1995 or so the pollution in the atmosphere of London has started to kill off all the rooks.And the city government is very concerned because the rooks roosting on the cornices and the odd littlecrannies of the public buildings are a big attraction. The Yanks with their Kodaks if you get it. So theysay What are we going to do They get a lot of brochures from places with climates similar to London’s so they can raise the rooksuntil the pollution problem is finally licked. One place with a similar climate but low pollution count turnsto be Bangor Maine. So they put an ad in the paper soliciting bird fanciers and talk to a bunch of guys inthe trade. Finally they engage this one guy at the rate of 50000 a year to raise rooks. They send anornithologist over on the concord with two cases of rook eggs packed in these shatterproof cases - theykeep the shipping compartment constantly heated and all that stuff. So this guy has a new business - North American Rook Farms Inc. He goes to work right off incubatingnew rooks so