Owlbert Learns to Fly

Fly, Owlbert!

Owlbert liked his dark, cozy home in the old oak tree. It was comfortable; it was warm. He slept all day and at night, Mama and Papa Owl brought him tasty morsels. What more could one small owl ask?

“It’s time to learn to fly, Owlbert,” Mother owl hooted softly. “All little owlets must learn to move their wings and soar into the air. It’s great fun.”

“It’s absolutely necessary,” Papa Owl said sternly.

“He’ll fly when he’s ready,” Grandpa said.

Owlbert closed his great yellow eyes and didn’t say a thing. Flying looked scary. The ground was far below him and he suspected if he landed on it pretty hard, it would hurt. He liked his cozy home and his life just fine, thank you.

But one fine moonlit night, Ollie, his friend who lived in the tree near-by called to him, “Hey, Owlbert, look at this!”

Before Owlbert could say, “No, you’ll get hurt!” Ollie jumped from his tree, spread his wings, and soared off into the darkness.

“Come back!” called Owlbert. “You’ll get lost.”

Plop! Ollie landed on the tree right beside Owlbert.

“I can’t get lost,” Ollie said. “Owls can see in the dark. You can fly too, Owlbert.”

“Come on, Owlbert” yelled Ollie. “Let’s play.” He gave Owlbert a hard push and Owlbert fell off his limb.

Owlbert was so scared, he couldn’t move a feather and landed with a hard bump on the ground.

His tree with its comfortable nest was now far above him.

“Spread your wings!” shouted Ollie. “Fly, Owlbert.”

Timidly, Owlbert flapped his wings up and down. Nothing happened except he toppled over onto his beak.

Big tears rolled from his eyes. “Can’t,” he muttered. “You know I can’t fly.”

“Look out!” hooted Ollie. “Be quick. Bobcat is behind you.”

Owlbert gasped and swiveled his head around. Sure enough, the glowing eyes of Bobcat stared at him. Owlbert’s heart thudded. He shivered from head to toe. Bobcat licked his lips and crept closer.

Owlbert opened and closed his beak a couple of times but all he could say was, “Help.”

“Fly, Owlbert!” screeched Ollie who was watching the whole thing from a limb above him.

But Owlbert was too scared to move.

“I’ll help!” Ollie cried and zoomed down on the ground between Owlbert and Bobcat.

The bobcat licked his lips. Two small, juicy owls. This was his lucky night.

“No, no!” Owlbert hooted. “You’ll be hurt, Ollie!” Without thinking about what he was doing, he jumped toward the big cat, his claws extended.

“Yowl!” howled Bobcat as Owlbert scratched his nose.

He bit the bobcat’s ear.

“Come on, Owlbert!”  cried Ollie. “Let’s get out of here.”

Owlbert thought that was a good idea if he could only fly. He flapped his wings a couple of times and, amazingly, rose into the air. Just as he did, Bobcat pulled some feathers from his tail.

The two owl friends sat on Owlbert’s tree branch, trying to catch their breath while Bobcat snarled far below them.

“Owlbert, you did it!” said Ollie. “You flew.”

Owlbert looked down at the angry bobcat.

“I did,” he whispered. “I flew.”

“I knew you could,” said Ollie. “You just had to believe it too.”

“And tonight, I was ready to fly,” said Owlbert. The two friends hooted loudly and flew off into the night.