Rocket Writes a Story (3 page)

In the evening Rocket followed the beautiful smell until he found himself at the tree with the nest.

“Hello again,” he called into the branches. “Is anyone home?”

He heard rustling from above, but no one answered.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, but … I must tell you that you smell nice. Very inspiring. May I ask who you are?”

Still nothing. “Perhaps I’ll come back at a more convenient time,” he said, and trotted off.

That night, as Rocket watched the stars, he thought about feathers and a nest in a pine tree. He thought about his story and his collection of words.

On his way to school the next day, Rocket was surprised by what he saw.

“A brand-new word!” he said. “And it’s already written down. It says …” He tried to sound the word out.

“
Owl
,” came a quiet voice from the branches. “It says
owl
. That’s me.”

“Thank you, Owl,” Rocket called. “I’m always looking for words, and this one’s a beauty!”

Rocket ran all the way to his classroom.

“
O-W-L
,
owl
. Now, there’s a word you don’t hear every day,” chirped the little yellow bird. “Only three letters, but what a word!”

“It was a present,” explained Rocket, and he added the new word to his story.

“I’m writing a story about you,” Rocket announced proudly to the owl the next morning.

The owl poked her head out of her nest, and for the first time Rocket saw her friendly face. Her big round eyes blinked below feathery tufts. “About me?” she asked softly.

“Would you like to come down and hear it?” asked Rocket.

“Thank you, but I think I’ll listen from my nest,” the owl answered.

So Rocket cleared his throat and began to read. “Once there was an owl. She smelled like feathers and pine needles. She lived in a tree.”

The owl’s eyes widened. “Is there more?”

“There will be,” said Rocket.

Each day Rocket worked on his story. He wrote words down and crossed words out. When things were going well, he wagged his tail.

When he didn’t know what to write, he growled.

Sometimes he drew pictures for his story

or took a walk in the meadow to look for inspiration.