scarecrow

the golem grammar, turned to gentler work: stack a carved pumpkin on a hay bale on any fence, and the pattern wakes — the blocks become a still figure standing where they stood. wild birds keep sixteen blocks away; chickens and parrots ship scared, and the crow and magpie are invited by optional tag, so a well-placed scarecrow is why the crumb trail survives the yard and why no heists happen near the rows. a player punch lays it back down into its three blocks, nothing ever lost.

the detail that makes it: the wind is in the sleeves. it leans downwind with a wobble riding the strength, no two scarecrows in sync — and on a truly calm day it stands dead still, which is somehow worse.

the orchard is waiting for it: wild birds pecking unguarded ripe fruit ships only when the remedy exists, because a leak without a remedy is grief rather than weather.