Erin Robin And The Hungry Cat
Jon Lymon
Copyright 2015 by Jon Lymon
Erin Robin And The Hungry Cat
Chapter One
Erin Robin was not a happy robin. The nest her mummy and daddy had built wasn’t big enough for her and her four sisters. And as the youngest, she was always getting squashed and squished and even sometimes squooshed against the nest’s prickly thorns, sharp twigs and scratchy dry leaves.
When her mummy arrived back with a worm to eat, or her daddy flew in with a beetle in his beak, Erin Robin’s sisters squawked louder and reached higher and opened their mouths wider than her and ate all the food before she had a chance to taste it.
A little hungry and a lot fed up, Erin Robin decided to dip her head under her wing and have a think. But being so young, there wasn’t much to think about other than how she was going to get something to eat.
As her sisters squawked and squawked, Erin Robin decided a change of scenery might help her think of a way she could get her mummy and daddy to give her some food, so she hopped onto the edge of her nest and walked carefully along a branch.
It was high up and a long way down to the green grass below the tree. A bright light shone in the distance. Erin Robin had no idea what it was, or if she could eat it, but it looked big and tasty.
As she thought, her daddy flew in with another beetle in his mouth. Erin Robin’s sisters stretched their legs as high as they could and opened their mouths as wide as they could, hoping theirs would be the one their daddy chose to drop the food in.
Determined that this time her daddy would choose her mouth, Erin Robin rushed back into the nest and onto her first sister’s head.
‘Ouch,’ squawked her first sister.
‘Sorry!’ said Erin Robin.
As she stepped onto her second sister’s squawking head and reached toward her daddy, Erin Robin’s third sister spread her wings and grabbed the beetle from her daddy’s mouth.
This third sister’s wings were so wide and strong they sent Erin Robin tumbling forward and over the edge of the nest.
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Erin Robin was about to find out what life was like outside that prickly, sharp and scratchy nest.
Chapter Two
The first thing she found out was that the green grass below was moving up to meet her quite fast. Either that or she was falling down to meet it quite fast. That meant she had to think quite fast.
Without really knowing what she was doing, she flapped her wings. And that’s when something magical happened. Erin Robin stopped falling down and started flying up, up and up some more.
It felt fantastic, and not at all prickly, sharp or scratchy like life in the nest had been. She flew up and around and over and under and back and forth. Her sisters watched her as she looped the loop and swooped the swoop and hooped the hoop, their mouths wide open, either in amazement or in expectation of more food, (Erin Robin couldn’t be sure which).
‘Look at me, look at me,’ she shouted in delight.
She saw the big yellow light she’d spotted earlier. With her sisters watching, she swooped toward it, hoping it would be the biggest, shiniest food she’d ever tasted. Bigger and shinier than any of the food her greedy sisters had ever tasted.
She opened her mouth wide, ready for breakfast, lunch and dinner all rolled into one.
Cccccrrrraaaaassshh!
Her four sisters gasped as they watched Erin Robin bounce off a window and fall back into a paddling pool with a soft thud.
Chapter Three
Erin Robin’s four sisters huddled together in the nest.
‘We should go and help her,’ said the first sister.
‘No, we shouldn’t,’ said the second. ‘It’s too dangerous.’
‘I’m hungry,’ said the third.
The fourth sister said nothing. She just wanted Erin to come back home.
Luckily for Erin (who didn’t feel at all lucky at that particular time), the paddling pool she’d fallen into was empty, because learning to swim and learning to fly on the same day was a big ask for one so young. And right now, Erin Robin was feeling very strange, thinking all kinds of thoughts in a very strange order that didn’t really make sense.
As she stood dazed in the paddling pool, a butterfly fluttered over and perched on the pool’s edge.
‘What’s your name?’ the butterfly asked.
Erin Robin wasn’t sure what day it was, or even who was speaking.
‘I’m Ann,’ added the butterfly.
Erin Robin carefully turned her head and saw a beautiful pink, black and white butterfly. She looked at her own small, plain brown wings and felt a little embarrassed by how boring they looked.
You can’t stay there,’ said Ann, her voice soft and soothing as she fluttered her incredibly colourful wings and scattered the pink rose petals that lay dotted around the paddling pool.
‘Why not?’ asked Erin Robin.
‘Because Derek the cat lives in this house, and he’ll be back home soon, hungry for his breakfast.’
Erin Robin didn’t like Derek the cat already for living in a house so big and so easy to crash into.
‘What’s a cat?’ Erin Robin asked.
Ann resisted the urge to laugh. ‘Cats are to be avoided,’ she whispered. ‘They leap over fences, grab you and eat you,’ she added.
Erin Robin liked Derek even less after hearing that. She tried to turn to look in the direction of the fence at the far end of the garden but it hurt her neck.
‘Can you tell me when Derek’s coming, please?’ she asked.
‘I’m afraid I must be on my way,’ said Ann, looking worried for Erin Robin. ‘But I just have time to do one thing to help you. After all, us winged creatures should stick together. Now what can I do for you?’
It had already been a big thinking kind of day for Erin Robin, and now she had to think some more before Derek the cat came home for his dinner.
‘There is one thing you could do to help me,’ she told Ann.
‘Ask away,’ said Ann.
‘Could you scatter some of those pink petals on the garden behind me, please? At the end, just by the fence.’
It seemed a very strange sort of request to Ann, who had expected Erin to ask her to do something tricky like go and fetch some food or water. Scattering petals was easy. Ann nodded and picked up some delicate petals with her beautiful wings and gracefully flew back up the garden where she scattered them across the grass near the fence.
‘All done,’ Ann called out.
‘Thank you,’ said Erin.
‘I wish there was more I could do to help,’ said Ann.
‘You’ve helped me more than you could know,’ said Erin.
And with that, Ann fluttered on her way.
When she was gone, Erin tried to stretch one of her wings.
Owwwwwww!
Erin wasn’t ready to fly, she needed more rest. But Derek the cat was getting nearer his home, and hungrier for his breakfast.
Chapter Four
As she waited for her wings to get better, Erin Robin heard a distant voice getting louder and louder.
‘Left, right, left, right, left, right.’
Straining her neck a little to the left and then a bit to the right, she saw an army of ants marching around the edge of the paddling pool, each carrying a twig on its back.
‘Company halt,’ shouted the first ant.
The marching stopped abruptly. The first ant turned and looked down at Erin Robin standing in the bottom of the paddling pool.
‘Explain yourself,’ the ant shouted down, though his voice wasn’t very loud. After all, he was only an ant.
Erin Robin
didn’t know what to say.
‘You’ll have to move along,’ the ant shouted. ‘You can’t stay in there.’
‘I’m stuck,’ Erin Robin told him.
‘Stuck, sir.’
‘I’m stuck...sir. I hurt my wings crashing into that window. Sir.’
The ant tutted and shook his tiny head. ‘Very bad. Very bad. You do know there’s a cat called Derek who lives here and he’ll be home soon, wanting his breakfast.’
Erin Robin gulped. Even though she already knew about Derek, the very mention of his name sent shivers through her feathers.
‘I know, I know, sir,’ said Erin Robin. ‘But there’s nothing I can do. I can’t fly.’
The ant pondered.
‘Ant Army Fourth Division Nest Building Regiment at your service, ma’am.’
He saluted and then all the other ants saluted. Erin Robin smiled.
‘At your service, ma’am,’ the first ant repeated. ‘How can we help?’ he added.
Erin Robin looked at the army and although there were many and they were all brave and strong carrying twigs that were far heavier than them, she suspected they’d be no match for Derek the cat.
Then she had an idea. ‘Please could you leave me one of your twigs, sir?’
The first ant looked at her with surprise. He’d expected her to sound the order to charge at the cat, or to take up defensive positions in readiness for an attack. But leaving one of their twigs? This was going to be the easiest mission ever.
‘Certainly, ma’am. Where would you like us to leave it?’
Erin’s neck was still too sore for her to turn around.
‘Please could you leave it halfway up the garden path behind me, sir?’ she said. The first ant saluted, and he was quickly copied by all the other ants.
‘Certainly ma’am,’ he shouted and fell back into line.
‘Company, prepare to deeeeee-part. Left, right, left, right.’
All the ants turned their heads in Erin Robin’s direction as they marched off. She couldn’t turn around so didn’t see them file off the edge of the paddling pool and away up the garden path where the ant at the back of the line dropped his twig.
When they were gone, Erin Robin tried to stretch her other wing.
Owwwwww!
It was too painful to try even the slightest flap. There was no way she could fly, not yet. She had to wait and hope that Derek was late coming home for his breakfast.
Chapter Five
Erin Robin heard a scrabbling scribbling sort of noise coming from behind her. Was it Derek already?
She caught her breath. The scrabbling and scribbling stopped. A squeaky squeaking started. Erin heard tiny footsteps, then a small head popped over the side of the paddling pool. The head tilted to one side as it gazed at Erin Robin. It was a field mouse, carrying a large lump of dried bread.
‘You can’t stay there,’ squeaked the field mouse, glancing nervously from left to right and back again, as if he expected someone to come along and gobble him up at any moment.
‘Derek the cat lives here and he’s not very nice and he’ll be coming home for his breakfast soon and he’ll be very hungry because he’s been out all night looking for things like me to eat and...’
‘I know,’ interrupted Erin Robin, worried that the field mouse might carry on talking until the cat came home. ‘I just flew into that window and now I can’t fly anymore.’
The field mouse looked worried. ‘Okey dokey. He’ll eat you for breakfast he will, mark my words. He’ll gobble you up and...’
‘I know all about that,’ said Erin Robin. ‘But there’s nothing I can do until my wings get better.’
Even though the field mouse didn’t much like birds, this one seemed kind and gentle and not at all interested in dive-bombing him or trying to pick him up and fly off to a prickly, sharp and scratchy nest with him.
‘Okey dokey. Is there anything I can do to help?’
Erin Robin had got so used to thinking, she was now thinking without having to think about it.
‘Yes, there is actually,’ she said. ‘Please would you mind leaving me some of your food?’ she asked.
The field mouse breathed easy. For a moment he thought she’d ask him to do something fearless, like bite Derek’s ears or pull his tail. Leaving a bit of food was easy. He had plenty, almost too much to carry back to his nest.
‘Okey dokey,’ said the field mouse. ‘Where would you like me to leave it?’ he asked.
‘On the other side of the paddling pool, by the window in front of me, please,’ said Erin Robin.
‘Okey dokey,’ said the field mouse again and he dropped the food exactly where Erin Robin wanted.
‘Hope your wings get better soon,’ he called as he scurried through a hole under next door’s fence.
When he’d gone, Erin Robin tried to stretch both her wings. She reached out as far as she could, trying to touch both sides of the paddling pool. Although she was nowhere near, her wings didn’t feel too bad. She tried to flap them both.
Owwwww!
She still needed rest. And even though she knew Derek must be nearly home, she was so, so tired, she couldn’t stop herself tucking her head under her poorly wing and drifting off into a deep, deep sleep.
Chapter Six
Erin Robin was awoken by a petal brushing across her beak and landing in the paddling pool in front of her. It was followed by another, and another. She didn’t need to look over her shoulder to know that Derek was back, scattering the petals Ann the butterfly had dropped as he moved.
Erin Robin flapped her wings as fast as she could. They still hurt a tiny bit, and they weren’t strong enough to fly.
SNAP!
The twig that the ants had left halfway up the garden path split in two. Derek was getting nearer. With one last flap of her wings Erin tried to take to the skies.
But it was no use. She still wasn’t ready. Derek sniffed his way to the edge of the paddling pool and stopped, barely a cat’s whisker from Erin Robin. Up ahead he saw the hunk of dried bread. Hardly a feast, but food was food and this food smelled of mouse.
Slowly he stepped over Erin Robin without seeing her and into the pool, stalking the bread as if it were a real field mouse. Erin Robin daren’t breathe. She could hear Derek’s heartbeat and smell his damp fur as the huge tom cat stepped over her.
Erin Robin watched Derek sniff the bread then lick it. As he did, Erin Robin used all her strength to leap up onto the edge of the paddling pool behind him. Derek looked up and saw her standing there.
In a flash, he leapt toward her. With a huge
BANG!
Derek crashed into the window. It was Erin Robin’s reflection that the greedy cat had seen!
As Derek shook the dizziness out of his head, Erin Robin hopped off the paddling pool and up the garden path, flapping her wings, as her little legs carried her away. The field mouse cheered her on, looking through a hole in the fence from next door’s garden.
Derek recovered his senses and turned to chase Erin Robin up the garden path.
‘I order you to fly,’ shouted the ant sergeant major, who’d gathered his troops under a rock to watch.
Erin Robin flapped and flew a little bit but then fell back to the ground.
Derek closed in, licking his lips, looking forward to an extra course for breakfast. Erin Robin looked over her shoulder and could see not only the whites of Derek’s eyes, but the whites of his sharp teeth too.
‘Come on, come on, you can do it,’ cheered Ann the butterfly in her loudest voice which really wasn’t very loud at all. As Derek leapt toward her, Erin Robin flapped her wings faster and harder than ever. In a wave of magic, she took to the skies to the sound of cheers from the field mouse, the ants and the butterfly.
‘Thank you butterfly, thank you ants, thank you field mouse,’ Erin Robin called out as she looked down to see Derek jump onto the fence and reach out a paw toward her. But Erin Robin was beyond him, flying high and feeling free. r />
She flew back toward Derek’s garden and that big shiny light, then circled away and headed back toward the tree from where her four sisters were calling.
‘Come back Erin, we’ve missed you,’ said her first sister.
‘You wait until mum and dad hear what you’ve been up to,’ said the second.
‘I’m hungry,’ said the third.
The fourth sister said nothing.
Erin Robin took one last look down at Derek who was now a tiny speck on the fence and not nearly as frightening. ‘I don’t think I’ll be going down there again in a hurry,’ she said to herself as she swooped back into her nest which was still prickly and sharp and scratchy.
But this time, Erin Robin’s four sisters all made room for her. And when their daddy returned with a huge worm, they let it fall straight into Erin Robin’s mouth.
THE END
Look out for other children’s books by Jon Lymon:
Gloria Goldfish Searches For Lost Gold
Wesley Bear Escapes From The Zoo