Leonard

2.2K 38 20
                                    

The following morning, every bird on the island prepared for another day. While little birds went to school, the grown ups either went to work or stayed home with their eggs and hatchlings. Judge Peckinpah put on his robe and stood on Cyrus' head, who brought him lunch. Even when we was off duty, he wanted to look taller. To many birds, it was just another ordinary, happy day.
Little did they know that today would be far from ordinary...

Meanwhile, Matilda had all of her students read a poem they had written to express their feelings. Bomb was the first to go.
If my name were Bobby,
Would you ask about my hobbies?
Or if my name were Judas
Would you ask me what my mood is?
I laugh, I cry, I love, I hate
I do so much more than detonate
Think about it
“That was beautiful," Matilda sniffed. “You're going to make me cry!"
“Yeah, that was some real clever symbolism," Red said flatly.
Chuck kept raising his hand frantically, but Matilda ignored him and asked Red to read her poem.
“I don't have a poem," she said.
“Why not?"
“Because... I didn't write one."
Matilda was beginning to get frustrated. “And is there a reason?"
“Well, you know, I was gonna do it," Red explained, “but then I thought about it and I realized, ‘Oh, this is a huge waste of my time!' So I didn't do it."
Matilda was about to attack Red, but she took a few deep breaths and relaxed.
“And we're back in the now," she sighed. “CHUCK! You've had your hand up the whole time."
Chuck ran out of the house and came back in a flash of yellow. He carried something in his arms and covered it with a blanket.
“My poem is about a hate crime," he began, pulling off the blanket. It was the same dummy Red smashed up the day before!
“Uh-oh," she muttered. Chuck's the one who made the dummy! But she was too scared to confess. “Lot of sickos out there. Lot of sickos."
What, oh what did I make you of?
I made you out of love
But wait, too late!
Now I see your fate
Some very troubled somebody destroyed you out of hate
What could have made him so despise
Your happy smile, your laughing eyes?
Your soul was pure, your heart was true
And someone hated that...
But who?
Chuck showed everyone a red feather and they glared at Red. Red tried to blame it on Terence, but that earned her a good punch in the face.
“Yeah, I deserved that," she groaned.
“Billy has passed to a higher plane of existence," Matilda cried. “Everyone join wings. Let us all say our goodbyes."
Red felt terrible about what she had done. She was going to join the circle, but Terence wouldn't let her.
“Okay, that's fine, I'll just mourn from back here," she said sarcastically.
“You know, if there was one thing Billy always hated, it was goodbyes," Chuck remembered.
“Hey, what's going on out there?" Bomb interrupted. Everyone immediately lost interest in Billy as they saw birds were running towards the beach.
“Class dismissed!" Matilda said, excited. Red noticed that they left poor Billy all alone.
“Very moving."

“Hey, where's everybody going?" Bomb asked.
“Hurry! Something's coming!" Stella replied, following the crowd.
“Last one to the beach is a rotten egg!" Chuck shouted as he ran off in a flash.
“Let's go!" Bomb chimed in, and the group headed for the beach.
As everyone was headed for the beach, Red stopped for a second to see what it was they were talking about.
“What...?" she muttered. It was a large ship and it getting closer and closer by the minute. She knew there had to be something in it, so she followed everyone else to the beach.
“What is that thing?!" Stella exclaimed.
“It looks like a UFO," Matilda observed, “an unidentified floating object!"
Red made it to the front of the crowd next to Timothy and his family.
“Daddy!" the baby shouted at Red.
“Stop that!" Red whispered. “I'm not your daddy!"
Meanwhile, the birds were curious about the ship.
“Look at the size of that thing!"
“Where's it going?!"
“I don't know, but it's not stopping!"
Red noticed that it was headed straight for her house!
“Slow down!" she yelled, running after it. “Stop!"
Fortunately, the boat stopped after giving the house a small nudge. Red sighed in relief. Suddenly, a large anchor dropped from the ship and smashed right into her house!
“What the...?!" Red screamed. She ran to her house, which now had a large hole in the walls. Chuck came to her side. “That house took me five years to build!"
“Wow," Chuck sighed sarcastically. “It's such a shame when you create something and someone just destroys it."
Red knew he was still upset about Billy, but she ignored him and picked up some pieces of her wall. Then she heard a loud voice coming from the ship.
“Ladies and gentlemen! We have a very special guest for you! He's a green marine sailing machine, and he's keen to let you know he's not mean! Put your wings together for... Leonard!!!"
The doors to the ship opened and a motorized gangplank was lowered.
“Thank you so much!" the voice continued. “Please hold your applause."
Someone came out of the ship and looked out over the crowd. It was an animal the birds had never seen before. He was bright green with a dark green beard. He had no feathers or beak, but he was rather large, especially with his big belly.
“Greetings from my world!" he shouted, raising his arms. “The world of the pigs!"
“What's a pig?" Chuck asked Red, who was just as curious.
“I am a pig!" the creature said. The birds were amazed. They never saw a pig before. He made his way down the gangplank... until it got stuck.
“Unbelievable," he muttered, and looked at a small pig with freckles who was fiddling with a remote control. The gangplank jerked and began moving backwards. “Where we going? Wrong way!"
“Oopsie! Not working!" the smaller pig whimpered.
“We practiced this a hundred times!" the bearded pig whispered, taking the remote. “We're gonna come in again."
The gangplank started working again and the two pigs made it down, the one with the beard holding a gift basket.
“My name is Leonard, but my friends call me Chuckles!" he said warmly, and gave Bomb the gift basket.
“Very generous!" Bomb chuckled.
“We mean no harm!" Leonard continued. “We saw your island across the sea and we thought... ‘I wonder what they're up to.'"
“But there's no other place besides here," Stella said, confused. The birds always believed that their island was the only place anyone lived. Was Leonard saying there was a somewhere else?
“Yes there is!" he claimed. “And we are from there! We call it Piggy Island! P-I-double G-Y... uh, Island."
“Who else is out there?" another bird asked.
“My first officer, Ross, and I have sailed everywhere," he replied. “One brave soul against the sea... and Ross."
“Excuse me," Red said angrily. “Have you come to smash all of our houses, or just mine?"
While the birds were shocked by Red's outburst, all Leonard could think about was that he was now looking at the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on. He smiled at her and gave her a pat on the shoulder.
“Aw, does somebody want a gift basket?" he chuckled softly. “Please, please don't be afraid."
The birds sighed in relief.
“My partner and I request the honor of your friendship," Leonard said, then he slapped Ross' behind. “Ross, show em how we do it!"
Ross started to give the birds really tight hugs. He was about to hug Terence, but then got very nervous and returned to Leonard's side.
“Welcome to Bird Island!" Judge Peckinpah announced. “Welcome to our new friends, the pigs! Let us have a celebration!"
“Put 'er there!" Leonard smiled, shaking hands with the judge. “A hoof to a wing."
While most birds were cheering, Red couldn't help but feel suspicious about these pigs.


If there's anything you need to say... SAY IT!

Don't forget to vote! 😁

Dangerous Woman Where stories live. Discover now