by BobA. Troutt
*****
Jawbreakers, Bubble Gum and Stick Candy
The Early Bird and the Late Worm
It was a hot summer day; the sun stretched across the golden meadow in the small community of Willow Brook Lane. Skillet Creek ran through it and fed the meadow nestled between Hog Hollow and a cornfield. It was the home of many animals including squirrels, rabbits, deer, skunks and possums, just to name a few. It was also the home of Fred the bird and Willie the worm.
Fred was an old and feeble bird. He lived by himself in a nest at the top of an old sycamore tree that stretched across the creek. Fred was a robin. He had no family; they had all grown up and flew away. He always told people they had flew the coop. Even though he laughed about it, he was sad inside because he was all alone. He could barely chirp, was awfully forgetful, nearly blind and hard of hearing. Not to mention, his flight was wobbly. Fred could not see his beak in front of his face so he used a magnifying glass to help him see. He’d always said huh, huh, when someone said anything to him and then finally answer them with a low, soft crackly voice. But, although his chirp was weak and faint he flew clumsily this way and that. However, it did not hold him back. Even though when he was out flying about, he’d have to stop here and there to take a little nap. He loved to sleep; it was his favorite thing to do. However, he still managed to get up early each morning before sunrise. Each morning, he piddled about as he flew across the meadow looking for something to have for dinner and singing his favorite song, I’ll Fly Away. If he was lucky, he would catch a bug or two. In reality, he was actually looking for someone to have dinner with him.
The other animals and birds liked old Fred. They had all been friends for a long time. Now, Willie the worm was the exact opposite of him. He was younger, quicker and very smart for a red worm. Not only that, he was extremely slick and a smooth talker. He lived in a hole beneath the ground in the meadow. But, Willie was a late sleeper. He liked to sleep late, especially during the weekend when he’d been out all night with his friends, a couple of night crawlers.
As Fred flew about the meadow, he happened to land near a colony of worm holes. He looked about, eased up to the holes and placed his magnifying glass up to one of his eyes and held the other eye closed. As he looked around inside the holes, he noticed signs hanging from them. The signs each had something different on them. One had vacant. The second had crawled on. The third had for rent. Another had foreclosure. And the last one had do not disturb. Suddenly, he heard a faint sound coming from the do not disturb hole. What is it? he thought. It sounds like someone snoring. Cautiously, he leaned over into the hole and looked through his magnifying glass. He couldn’t see much so he switched on the tiny light of his magnifying glass. With his tiny eye, he looked around the dark hole and saw Willie asleep in his bed. Quietly, he pressed his ear against the hole and listened before he eased away and picked up his homemade fishing pole. He cast the hook and line above his head. Unfortunately, he let it go too soon. The line wrapped around his head and the hook dangling off the end of his beak. Phooey, Fred said to himself as he grabbed the empty hook. I guess I will try this again. He giggled to himself and looked about to make sure no one saw him. He cast his hook and line again. This time he made sure he let go of the line at the right time. The hook and line flew freely toward the hole, bounced off the edge and fell inside. Unknowingly to Fred, the hook hit Willie’s head so hard it woke him up and left a knot on top of his head. Willie let out a quiet ouch! He crawled onto the hook to see what was going on; he jerked the line to let whoever it was know something was on the hook. Fred reared back with a smile and quickly reeled in the line. Willie was so slippery he was able to wiggle off the hook and crawl up the pole to the top of the hole. He peeped out of the hole to see what was going on and noticed Fred with his homemade rod and reel. So, Willie decided to have a little fun with Fred.
The scorching hot sun beamed down on Fred. He had to stop to catch his breath for a minute before he cast out his line again. After a brief rest, he cast his line once more; it darted down into the worm hole. When the hook landed in the hole, Willie took it, crossed over into another hole and came up behind Fred. Willie quietly sneaked up behind him and hooked the fish onto Fred’s leg. Then he eased back down into the hole and jerked the line. When Fred felt the line jerk, he immediately snatched the line as hard and fast as he could because he thought he had caught a worm. Instead, when he jerked the line, his feet flew out from under him and caused him to fall on his back with his feet up in the air. Dazed and confused, he slowly raised up and the hook once again dangled from his beak. Fred took a deep breath and exhaled which only made things worse; the hook wrapped around his beak.
“Phooey,” he said. “Phooey, phooey, phooey on me,” cried Fred. “Why do I even try?”
Fred didn’t know what he was going to do for dinner. As he sit there wondering what he was going to do next, he thought he heard something. Psst! Psst! it sounded. Fred looked toward the worm hole but couldn’t see anything. He took out his magnifying glass, placed it up to his eye and looked toward the worm hole again.
“Psst, psst, over here,” Willie said. “I’m over here.”
Fred looked a little closer and saw Willie’s head sticking out of the hole.
“Oh, by the way,” said Willie, “is it Fred or Freddie?”
“It’s Fred.”
“Well, I like Freddie,” Willie said. “Do you mind if I call you Freddie?”
“Well, I guess Freddie will be okay. What’s your name, worm?” asked Fred.
“My friends call me Willie but you can call me Will.”
“Okay, Will,” said Freddie.
“You know, Freddie, I’m new to this meadow. I have only been here a few weeks.”
“I didn’t think I had seen you before,” replied Freddie. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“I have only made a few friends since I’ve been here. They told me about you.”
“They did,” replied Freddie.
“Yeah, they did. They didn’t have anything bad to say about you. They only had good things to say,” Will explained.
“Really,” said Freddie as his face blushed.
“Yeah!” exclaimed Will. “And my best friend from the nearby cornfield has told me a lot of good things about you,” stated Will. His name is Grubbie; he is a grubbing worm.”
“He is,” replied Freddie.
“He is,” repeated Will. “Freddie, what are you doing with this line and hook? Are you looking for dinner?”
“Sort of,” replied Freddie. “Would you like to go home with me for dinner?”
“Let me see, you’re looking for dinner,” Will said, “and you want me to have dinner with you.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Freddie replied. “I’m all alone. It’s just me and I have no one to share my dinner with.”
“I believe I get the point,” said Will. “Now, let me see. If I go home with you, I might be out on a limb,” responded Will.
“Technically, I guess you’re right because that’s where my home is,” Freddie said with a puzzled look, “duh!”
“Let me talk to my best friend, Grubbie, first. I think you’re a really nice guy and everything but I need to discuss it with Grubbie before I make my decision. I’ll meet you back here this afternoon and I’ll let you know,” stated Will.
“Okay,” replied Freddie. “I’ll see you later.”
Freddie threw his head back, fluffed his feathers, shook his feet, raised his tail and flew off into the sky. Will watched the old bird as he flew away.
“See you later, you old buzzard,” laughed Will.
Right after Freddie flew away, Grubbie crawled up to Will from amongst the weeds near the edge of the cornfield. Grubbie was a cool hip-hop grubbing worm. He wore dark glasses because when the sun shined down on the ears of corn in the cornfield, it nearly blinded him.
“What’s up dude
? What’s going on with you and the old one?”
“Nothing much, he just wants me to come to his house for dinner. He’s lonely and wants a little company.”
“Are you going?” questioned Grubbie.
“I might,” answered Will.
“Are you crazy, worm? He might be luring you out on a limb and into his tummy,” said Grubbie. “If you haven’t noticed, he is a bird, a hungry bird, and you are a worm. Birds eat worms, dude,” warned Grubbie. “Instead of going for dinner you may wind up being dinner. Do you understand where I’m coming from?”
“Yeah,” laughed Will, “but he’s such a nice guy. Besides, he can’t possibly do much to me; he’s too old. He can hardly fly much less eat a worm.”
“What if I’m right?” questioned Grubbie. “Do you think you’ll be able to wiggle your way out of the situation? You’re going to be awfully high up in a tree.”
“Well, I didn’t think about that,” mumble Will. “But, I really want to help him out. Grubbie, what do you think I should do? Freddie will be back in a little while for my answer.”
“Will, dude, since you really want to go, I suggest you just play along with him until you see you need to get out. If things get too rough, you can always grab a leaf from the tree, glide back to the ground and crawl into a nearby hole. I believe you’ll have no problem finding one because you have already dug your hole by trying to play this game with him. Hey, man, getting off the subject. Let me tell you about the yummy corn in the cornfield. It is so sweet and juicy,” Grubbie cried out as his mouth watered. “I do; I do love that peaches and cream corn. It is the best.”
“But…but,” stuttered Will.
“There are no buts about it,” Grubbie interrupted. “Just go and see how it works out. Heck, he may not even come back. I have to get going,” Grubbie said as he crawled off. “Good luck. If I don’t see you anymore, it was nice knowing you,” he said as he stopped and looked over his glasses at Will.
“Gee, thanks,” replied Will. “That’s not too encouraging.”
It wasn’t long after Grubbie left when Freddie came by for his answer.
“Well, Will, have you made up your mind?” asked Freddie. “I have the table already set.”
“I was afraid of that,” mumbled Will with a quivering voice. “I guess I’ll go with you. Besides, I need a good meal.”
“Okay, Will. Get on my back and we’ll be off,” instructed Freddie.
The two lifted off into the sky. Over the meadow they flew until they reached the top of the old sycamore tree.
“Here we are,” said Freddie. “How do you like my nest, Will? Well, what do you think?” he asked.
“It’s a long way up and even a longer way down,” replied Will as he slowly opened his eyes and looked around.
Will quietly looked about to see if there were any leaves within his reach; he didn’t see one leaf. He noticed Freddie’s nest was made of broken twigs and withered grass held together with a little mud. And, he had a table sitting directly in the middle of the nest with no food on it.
“Come on,” said Freddie. “You can sit on the edge of the nest while I finish setting the table.”
Will slowly moved over to the nest as his eyes searched frantically for a leaf. But, he still didn’t see one. He couldn’t bare it any long; it was more than his nerves could take. He started apologizing to Freddie.
“Freddie, please forgive me,” Will begged.
“Forgive you for what?” questioned Freddie.
“For playing games with you, please take me back to my hole in the ground,” pleaded Will. “I’m really afraid of heights. Oh, please, oh, please help me down.”
Freddie just looked at Will as his mouth watered and his eyes grew big. He still didn’t understand why Will had suddenly gotten so paranoid.
“I can’t bare it anymore,” cried Will. “I’m so nervous; if I don’t get out of her I’m going to pass out.”
“Calm down, Will,” comforted Freddie. “Hold on a second. Maybe this will help calm you down,” he said as he placed a mud pie with coffee ground icing in front of Will.
“Here you go,” stated Freddie. “I made it especially for you.”
Will opened one eye and then the other. He looked at Freddie and said, “But, I thought you were going to have me for dinner.”
“Oh, no, I mean oh, yes,” replied Freddie. “Wait a minute; you must have misunderstood me. I wanted you to be my guest, not my dinner. I live by myself and I get lonesome a lot of the time.”
“You mean all you wanted was my company,” said Will.
“Why, yes,” replied Freddie. “Did you really think I wanted to eat you?” asked Freddie.
“Well, duh,” said Will, “a bird inviting a worm to dinner!”
“Oh, no, I wouldn’t have tricked you like that, Will,” explained Freddie. “Besides, worms are fattening and as old as I am I need to watch my weight. Plus, I can fly now. It was a struggle for me to get you up here.”
“I’m sorry, Freddie,” said Will. “Will you forgive me?”
“Sure,” replied Freddie. “Go ahead, dig in. I hope you enjoy the pie.”
“Oh, I know I will. By the way, Freddie, what are you having?” asked Will.
“I’m having a mixed bug sandwich with moths.”
Will dove into the mud pie and yelled out, “Life is good!”
They settled into the nest and were laughing and enjoying their meal when they heard someone yelling from below.
“Hey up there!” yelled Grubbie. “How’s it going? Will, are you okay?”
“I couldn’t be better,” replied Will. “I’m doing great and having a wonderful time.”
“Oh, well,” replied Grubbie, “I was worried about you so I decided to come and check on you to make sure you were alright.”
“Why don’t you come and join us,” insisted Freddie. “I have never had two visitors in one day.”
“No, thanks,” replied Grubbie. “I think I’m in the mood for some popcorn.”
Grubbie left and headed back across the meadow to the cornfield; he shook his head all the way to the cornfield.
“Young people, you can’t tell them anything these days. Will had better be glad I wasn’t right.”
That evening, the hot summer sun blazed down on the cornfield. From across the meadow, Freddie and Will could hear the corn popping. Pop! Pop! Pop it went.
“I’m in heaven,” sung Grubbie as his voiced carried in the wind.
Freddie and Will looked at each other when they heard Grubbie singing and started laughing.
“Those old people are something else,” stated Will. “They think they know it all.”
In the end, it was Freddie who truly did get the last laugh. I guess the old saying is true, thought Will; the early bird gets the worm.
