Laura Erickson's For the Birds

This is a true story about a little Blue Jay named Sneakers. He was a good little Blue Jay, but he was always curious.

One day Sneakers saw a big hole in the house where workmen were going to put a new window. The sun shone brightly outside this hole, and Sneakers was curious, so he decided to fly through the hole and investigate. Suddenly he found himself in the big backyard. He ate some box elder seeds and checked out some new lumber piled up by the house, but then he wanted someone to play with. He looked around, but his family had all gone away in the car. He flew up to the window opening, but th ehouse was dark inside compared to the bright and sunny outside. Sneakers did not like darkness, so he flew back to the maple tree. Blue Jays need company, and Sneakers especially hated being alone.

Suddenly he heard friendly sounds coming from the front sidewalk. Two children were walking to school. Sneakers called to them to wait up and flew alongside them all the way to Lakeside School.

The school playground was filled with noisy, happy children, and Sneakers sat on the fence and shouted with them. One child was eating a candy bar. Sneakers opened his wings and begged, but the child apparently didn’t understand Blue Jay talk. He flew onto one little girl’s shoulder, but she shrieked and waved her hands in a most unfriendly way. Some fifth grade boys called out to him and laughed cheerfully. But then a bell rang, and all the children lined up and walked into the school. Sneakers was left alone again.

Sneakers knew that when people disappear behind a door, you can often get their attention by tapping on a window. The children were so busy putting away coats and lunchboxes and pulling out homework that nobody noticed the little Blue Jay peeking in the window. suddenly Sneakers found an opening into Ms. Hunter’s kindergarten class. He flew right in.

One of Sneakers’s own personal boys, Tommy, is five years old, so Sneakers felt right at home in the kindergarten. Unfortunately, Tommy’s kindergarten session wasn’t until the afternoon, but Ms. Hunter was the kind of teacher who is prepared to teach anybody—even a Blue Jay. And the kindergarteners were awfully pleased with their new classmate. Then a teacher named Mr. Ritchie came in. He offered Sneakers some bread and then carried him around the school, feeding and petting him. Sneakers decided that going to school was even worth sitting through math, but then Mr. Ritchie brought him to an open door. It was so bright and sunny outside that before he even knew what had happened, he was sitting in a tree, all alone again.

Then Sneakers found an open window to a first grade class. This teacher wasn’t expecting a Blue Jay that day, so she calmly evacuated the children from the room. Sneakers was all alone again. He was admiring the decorations on the bulletin board and tugging on a blue thumbtack when Mr. Ritchie appeared and again escorted him to the door. Sneakers was starting to think going to school wasn’t such a good idea after all. He was hungry and wanted his mommy. He flew the six blocks home and yelled, but there was still nobody at home. What was a little Blue Jay to do? You’ll find out next time.