Felix The Owl

Felix sat in the old pine tree watching the sun set behind the mountains. His stomach grumbled as he groomed his smooth gray feathers. Bobby, the squirrel from the next tree over, waved cheerfully, his tail flicking in the dying light.

“Heya, Felix, how’s it goin’?” Bobby asked.

“Oh, all right, Bobby,” Felix sighed.

“What’s the matter, pal?” said Bobby, a look of concern in his bright, black eyes.

“Nothing. Everything’s fine,” Felix replied.

“Well great, Felix! Listen, I gotta run. Fall’s comin’ and I need to gather up some acorns, or I’m gonna be a hungry squirrel come January.” And with that, Bobby raced down the tree and ran off into the forest. I wish I was a squirrel, Felix thought to himself. There’s nothing hard about picking up acorns off the ground.

“Good evening, Felix,” a voice from the branch above said.

“Umm, hi, Mom,” Felix answered.

“Is that your stomach I hear growling from up here?” inquired Mrs. Onderbonk.

“Yeah, guess I’m a little hungry tonight,” replied Felix.

“Felix Onderbonk, I don’t understand it. When are you going to learn to hunt? You’re an owl. You’re supposed to be WISE,” scolded his mother.

Felix blushed and hung his round head. “I dunno, Mom,” he muttered.

“Well it’s a good thing I caught enough for the two of us last night. Here, have a garter snake,” she said, as she flung a skinny, green snake in his direction.

“Thanks, Mom,” Felix said as he gobbled down the tasty meal.

“You’re welcome, Felix. I just wish you’d try harder. Your brothers and sisters have been hunting for months. Why, just the other day Albert caught three field mice! Three! My, what a feast we had!”

Felix waved farewell to his mother, then slumped on the branch. Why, oh why couldn’t he hunt? Every night he’d leave his perch and fly through the forest, his big yellow eyes searching the ground for mice or snakes, but he could never find ANYTHING. One time he’d swooped down on what he thought was a lizard, but it turned out to be half a ham sandwich someone had dropped after a picnic. Another time he thought he’d caught a snake, but when he got it back to his tree, he saw that it was only a dark green shoelace. It was too hard being an owl. Why couldn’t he be a squirrel like Bobby?

The next night Felix woke and decided that tonight was going to be the night that he caught something, something that would make his mother proud of him. Carefully pushing the feathers out of his eyes, Felix swooped off to the north, eyes trained on the ground below, ears perked.

“Squeak, squeak,” came the sound of a field mouse in the grass below.

Swisssssh! Down Felix dove, searching the ground for the tiny mouse. Where was it, where was it? He could hear it but he couldn’t see it! Faster and faster Felix headed for the grass. CRASH! CLUNK! Then he slammed into a tree, sliding into a bush below.

“HAHAHA,” laughed Boris, the rat who happened to be sitting on a nearby tree stump. “You sure are a dumb owl, Felix, HAHAHA.”

Felix jumped up, smoothing his ruffled feathers. “Hush, Boris, you mean rodent!” Felix shouted as Boris sat chuckling on the log.

“Ahh, Felix, c’mon, I was just kidding ya,” said Boris. “Hey, wanna see all the cool stuff I found today?”

“Can’t you see I’m busy hunting right now?” sputtered Felix.

“Looks more like you’re busy flying into trees. C’mon, I found some really neat stuff!” insisted the rat.

Well maybe he’s found something I can eat, thought Felix, as his stomach rumbled for the tenth time that night. He’s such a pack rat, there’s no telling what he’s found. “OK, but I can’t be long. I’ve still got hunting to do,” Felix told him.

“Sure you do, Felix,” giggled Boris. “Let’s go!”

Felix followed Boris into his hole, squeezing himself through the tiny entrance. As he entered the rat’s home, he gasped. There were treasures everywhere! Buttons, match books, a pencil with the words “Math is FUN” written on the side, pennies, everything you could possibly imagine!

“Holy smokes, Boris, you’re rich!” gasped Felix.

Boris smiled and swished his tail. “Gee thanks, Felix. I've been collectin’ a long time ya know. Here, take a look at these. I just found ‘em today.” Reaching into a trunk, Boris pulled out what looked like two little pieces of glass stuck to some black plastic.

“What’s that?” asked Felix.

“I dunno,” answered Boris. “They fell off some little girl’s face when she was playin’ down by the stream.”

“Off her face?” said Felix. “You mean you’re s’posed to wear ‘em?”

“Yeah, I guess. Try ‘em on, Felix. See what happens.”

Felix reached out and took the strange-looking object from Boris. Tucking the ends of the plastic over his ears he peered through the pieces of glass.

“BORIS!” he screamed.

“WHAT?” Boris screamed back, falling head first into the trunk.

“You’ve got pointy red shoes on!” exclaimed Felix.

“Yeah, so? Stupid owl, I’ve had ‘em on all night. What’s the big deal?” Boris answered, cranky at having been startled.

“I never SAW them before,” Felix laughed, jumping up and down. “Red shoes on a rat, red shoes on a rat! Boris, this is a magical seeing device. I can see things I’ve never seen before!”

Felix ran excitedly out the door. Suddenly, the whole forest had come alive! Scurrying under a log was a tiny quail. Overhead he could see Bobby waving to him from an oak tree branch. Waving back, Felix looked around noticing a line of busy ants marching through the grass. And over there was a skunk with her three babies, digging for grubs. Then it hit him. He wasn’t an unwise owl after all! He couldn’t hunt because he had poor vision! And now, thanks to Boris and the magical seeing device, he could see everything!