Hamburg, Germany, September 29th 2008. It happened quickly, Lord have mercy on those poor girls.  The fat and contented German tourists walking along the water, shoveling wurst and pretzels into their mouths, never heard the the murderous caws that blended right into the cackles of the satisfied travelers, and certainly they didn’t give a second thought to the seagulls hovering, as seagulls tend to do.

Don’t feed the seagulls, a city employee told us.  Someone should have warned those girls.

They were there, sitting, laughing, throwing bread to the birds, and in an instant they were gone.  The birds must have pecked their tongues out of their throats first, because nobody heard anything.  It’s the only logical explanation I can think of.  And the birds, those accursed beasts, left not a trace, not a bone nor a shred of clothing nor a fiber of hair.  Just…gone.