A Special Present From Peabody
Peabody is a peacock. He lives
with the Whitley family. He likes
to walk around his yard spreading his beautiful blue feathers to show all his
golden eyes. But he also likes to squawk and squawk and squawk!
.
One hot summer day Mr. And Mrs.
Whitley did something they almost never do. They left Peabody home alone while
they went to the beach for a swim.
Peabody squawked and squawked all
day. He squawked when Joey walked by with his dog, Sam. He squawked when the
brown box truck stopped in front of the house. He squawked when Felix, the cat,
ran through the yard. He never stopped squawking.
All the neighbors heard Peabody
squawking and hurried over to tell Peabody to stop squawking. Mrs. Brown was
wearing her cooking apron. Mr. Jones was holding his newspaper. Ava and
Fletcher and their cousins, Levi and Violet, were wearing their bathing suits.
Even the mailman jumped out of his truck to find out what was making all that
noise.
Peabody looked for Mrs. Whitley
or Mr. Whitley. He did not see them. He was feeling very noisy. Now, there were
too many people and they were shouting at him. Peabody was frightened.
He squawked louder.
By the time Mr. Whitley and Mrs.
Whitley drove into their driveway, the kids had run home and made signs, “Send
this noisy bird away.”
But the Whitley’s loved
Peabody. They did not want to send
him away.
“I will leave his gate open and
let him walk away,” said Mr. Whitley, said as he blew his nose, trying to hide
his tears from his wife.
The next morning Mr. Whitley
walked out to Peabody’s big fenced-in yard and opened the gate.
“Good bye, Peabody.” Mr. Whitley was glad Peabody did not
understand him
At first, Peabody just strutted
around like any proud peacock. Then he went through the open gate. He wasn’t
really going anywhere. Just
strutting.
He chased an orange and black
butterfly around the house. Then a gray mouse scurried into the woods. He did
not catch the mouse, but he ate an ant, and a lady bug and a cricket. One of
his favorite things to do was to look for tasty insects. Peabody liked walking
around poking at the ground.
Soon a gray light crept in around him. It was very dark. He
looked for the warm light that kept him warm in his barn. Everywhere he looked,
he saw big trees. No light. He knew it was past his dinnertime.
Peabody squawked his goodnight
cries, but nobody heard him. He flapped his beautiful blue feathers and landed
on a high branch in a tall oak tree.
He shut his eyes and fell fast
asleep.
When the sun came up, Peabody
flew down to the ground. He found some tasty worms and beetles for breakfast.
Then he started strutting again. He held his head up high and walked and
walked.
By the time it was dark again Peabody had not gone
anywhere. He had walked around and
around in a big circle. He was very lost.
Peabody wanted to go home. He wanted to sit on top of the gatepost
and feel the warm sun on his back.
Peabody was frightened.
Mr. And Mrs. Whitney sat all day
looking at the empty backyard.
It was very quiet. Too quiet.
One by one the neighborhood
children walked over to Peabody’s yard. They missed Peabody’s squawking. They
missed how his feathers sparkled in the sunlight. They missed the way he
strutted around his house. They missed Peabody.
Albert asked, “Can I have one of
Peabody’s ’feathers.” One by one the children picked up a feather until every
child on Seymour Street was wearing a feather
The children set up a stand. But
instead of Lemonade, they sold Peabody’s feathers.
Mrs. Allen bought one for her
grandson who was going to visit next week.
Amy-Lynn bought one to remember
Peabody.
Jason’s dad bought one to
decorate his office.
Soon all the feathers were sold.
They had made twenty dollars for the animal shelter.
Then good things started
happening to the people who bought Peabody’s feathers.
Mrs. Allen’s grandson won a shiny
blue bike at the library raffle.
Amy-Lynn’s parents decided to go
to Disney Land for their vacation.
Jason’s dad got a big raise.
When the news of good luck spread
through the neighborhood, everyone wanted a Peabody peacock feather. But where was Peabody? All the feathers
were gone.
Then Albert had an idea. What if
everyone brought back their lucky peacock feather to Mr. and Mrs. Whitley,
Maybe that will help them find Peabody. Soon Mr. Whitley had a big basket
filled with long peacock feathers. Every one had a golden eye at the top.
Meanwhile, Peabody was getting
more and more frightened every time the sun went away. He screeched until his
throat was sore. Nobody heard him.
When Peabody thought things could
not get any worse, it did. It rained and rained and rained. Peabody’s feathers
where so heavy he could not fly up to a branch to sleep. He was afraid that a
hungry fox or coyote would think he would make a nice meal. He could not sleep.
He listened to the strange forest sounds.
Peabody had not heard these sounds before because he was always making
too much noise. He heard, “Hoot. Hoot.” He heard, “click, click.” He heard,
“croak, croak.”
Then, he heard something special.
He heard his name. “Peabody”. Then, “thump.”
Mr. Whitley tripped over a rock and landed next to Peabody.
He hugged and hugged his precious peacock. This was one time that Peabody wanted to be caught.
“We are going home, Peabody.”
That night when the neighbors
heard Peabody’s screeching, they just looked at each other and smiled. “Maybe
Peabody had the noisiest voice, but nobody had prettier, luckier feathers.
Besides, now they liked his squawking, they liked his golden eyes, and they
loved Peabody.
Listen to a peacock like Peabody and look at his beautiful feathers at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDvFdj-pFMc
You decide. Is his beauty and grace worth the noise?
Listen to a peacock like Peabody and look at his beautiful feathers at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDvFdj-pFMc
You decide. Is his beauty and grace worth the noise?
