Star of Wonder (4 page)

6

Star and the Squabs

MARY AND JODY decided after that first sleepless night that Star would be all right without them in the dark. And after all,
as Willie said, he would have to learn to be by himself sometime. So after solemnly burying the rat and checking to make sure
that Colonel Sanders was on his perch keeping Star company, they left him in his stall one more night. After that, they turned
him out in the paddock overnight as they had always done when he was with Lady. As the days sped by, mother and son stopped
calling to each other, and Star developed a voracious appetite for his hay and grain. By the end of the week, the girls got
so bored just watching Star eat that they decided to take him for a walk like old times.

“Where should we go first, Mare?” Jody asked as she combed Star’s half-black, half-white mane. “We could take him down by
the creek and see if he wants to splash around in it.”

“No, no, that means we would have to walk by the pasture and he would see Lady. I don’t think he’s ready for that yet. I’m
a little worried about taking him out at all in case he tries to take off and run over to her.”

“Oh, he’s not going to do that. Are you, Star?” Jody asked, as Star rubbed his head up and down, up and down on her arm. “I
honestly think he’s forgotten all about Lady. And Willie said Lady’s milk is almost dried up, so maybe we can turn them out
together pretty soon.”

“I know!” Mary said, jumping from her bale of hay and clapping her hands. “I almost forgot! Remember that day we helped Mr.
McMurray load the straw wagon, and for payment he said we could get one of the squabs out of the pigeon house and adopt him
and keep him for a pet? We could walk Star up to the pigeon house and pick out a squab! That’s the opposite direction of the
pasture!”

“I didn’t know he said that! But let’s do it! I can’t wait! But . . . what is a squab, anyway?” Jody asked sheepishly.

“I didn’t know either, at first,” laughed Mary. “But I looked it up. It means, ‘a nestling pigeon,’ or a baby, in other words.”

“Oh! OK, Star, you can help us pick one out. I think we should put your saddle on so you can get used to it on our trip around
the farm,” Jody said, giving Star an extra brushing on his back where the saddle would sit.

“Grand idea!” said Mary, already on her way to Jody’s tack trunk to get out the saddle and girth. “He’s already gotten used
to it in the paddock, so he shouldn’t mind it on a little walk.”

The saddle was put on and the girth tightened, and the trio started out from Lucky Foot Stable on a walk up the gravel path
toward Mr. McMurray’s big stone house. The white pigeon house with the green-shingled roof sat in the farmyard next to the
chicken house where Mary and Jody occasionally helped Mrs. McMurray gather the brown eggs from her Rhode Island Red hens.
As they approached the farmyard, Star pricked up his ears and raised his muzzle to the air, sniffing curiously at the unfamiliar
smells drifting from the houses.

“Star, we brought you here once before, when you were little. Remember?” Jody whispered in his ear as she walked him straight
to the pigeon house door. “But look, Mr. McMurray has the screen door on this time to keep it cool in there.”

Wide-eyed, Star peered through the gray screen of the door and snorted inquisitively. At the strange noise, the startled pigeons
flew from their perches with a whirring of wings and darted from wall to wall of the pigeon house in a frenzy. In response,
Star snorted again and reared straight up in the air, almost knocking Jody off her feet!

“Jode! Hold on, I’ve got him!” Mary said, grabbing the lead rope tightly as Star came down, in anticipation of him trying
to run off as fast as he could. But, to the girl’s surprise, Star stood fast and stared inquisitively once more through the
dusty screen.

“I don’t think he’s as scared as we thought,” Jody said. “He just got startled for a second. Look, I think he wants to go
in!”

And he did. Star extended his muzzle and pushed gingerly on the screen door, even taking a step forward as if to walk straight
in if someone would only open the door wide enough.

“Do you think we should bring him in with us?” Jody wondered. “It would be good to get him used to scary things, and he definitely
wants to see what’s in there!”

“I don’t see why not! I don’t
think
Mr. McMurray would mind,” Mary said hesitantly, looking around to make sure Mr. McMurray wasn’t anywhere nearby.

“You open the door, and I’ll lead him in,” Jody instructed. “If we do it like Willie taught us when we were learning to load
Lady onto the truck, like nothing out of the ordinary is happening, he should come right in!”

“Here goes!” Mary obliged.

Squueeeaaakkk
, complained the rickety old door as Mary pushed it open. Star threw his head up in alarm, but he stood his ground and immediately
stuck his head through the open door, sniffing nosily and taking another curious step forward.

“Come on, buddy,” Jody encouraged. “Those old pigeons won’t hurt you; they just fly around a lot and make all kinds of noise.”

Jody pulled gently on Star’s lead, and he pulled gently back, not quite sure about going all the way into the musty, dim pigeon
house.

“Come on, Star,” Mary said impatiently, “you have to help us pick out a squab to raise in Lucky Foot Stable. We don’t have
all day!”

“Give him time, Mare. It is pretty scary in there.”

But Star didn’t need any more time. His natural curiosity overcame him and he stepped boldly through the door, walking squarely
to the center of the house and looking up wide-eyed at the pigeons, who were standing on their perches and gazing just as
inquiringly back at him.

“Look, Mare, they’re not even flying around! I thought they’d be in a panic when Star came in. I know they’ve never seen anything
like him before!”

“Oh, yes, they have. These are homing pigeons, and Mr. McMurray lets them out once in a while to fly outside. They’ve seen
cows and horses before. I bet they’re more scared of us than they are of him! Come on, let’s pick out a squab!”

Just then, a beautiful snow white bird with a shapely head and feathers all the way down his legs and feet sailed across the
pigeon house, landing on a perch on the other side, and peered unruffled and dignified at the spectacle of two girls and a
colt intruding upon his domain.

“Look, Jode! There’s Sky King!” Mary exclaimed.

Mary had given this name to the stately pigeon one day after watching him glide through the air from perch to perch without
having to flap his wings even once.

“He is gorgeous,” Jody murmured. “Maybe we can find one of his babies that’s as pretty as he is!”

Mary tiptoed quietly across the straw-covered floor of the pigeon house to the rows of nest boxes lining the far wall, Jody
and Star following silently behind. The comforting
coo-r, coo-r
sound of contented pigeons filled the air, and all was peaceful in the house as Mary and Jody stood on tiptoe to look in the
first box, where two tiny eggs lay unattended.

“I wonder why the mother isn’t sitting on these and keeping them warm?” Jody asked.

“She probably flew off the nest when Star snorted. We better leave them alone, so she’ll come back,” Mary said knowledgeably.

The next nest in line was hung higher on the wall, prompting Mary to grab a bucket and turn it upside down on the floor as
a step stool.

“Here, Jode, I’ll steady the bucket while you stand on it and look in,” Mary offered generously. “Look, Star is coming right
along with you! He’s not scared at all!”

Jody held Star’s lead rope in her left hand as she stepped carefully on the upside-down bucket. With her right hand, she clutched
the front of the nest and looked over the edge.

Star fell back on his haunches in astonishment, sending
the pigeons flying madly once more.

Whoooosh!! A mother pigeon burst from the nest directly into Jody’s surprised face, knocking her from the bucket and onto
her back in the middle of the straw and pigeon droppings, while Star fell back on his haunches in astonishment, sending the
pigeons flying madly once more in a frenzy of whirring wings.

“Jody! Are you OK?” Mary yelled, trying to grab Jody’s hand and Star’s lead rope at the same time. Star righted himself, snorting
and pawing and lowering his head to avoid the darting pigeons, while Mary attempted to help Jody up from the sticky straw.
But Jody’s feet slipped out from under her and down she went again, covering her britches with a second coating of pigeon
mess. Star sniffed the sticky mass of pigeon droppings on the back of Jody’s head, raised his nose, and lifted his top lip
as horses do when they smell something funny. Jody put her hand in the goo and grimaced. This was too much for Mary. She lost
her grip on Jody’s other hand as she tried to suppress the belly laugh that rose from deep inside, worked its way up, and
burst from her lips.

“Thanks, Mare. Thanks a lot,” Jody scolded, but she couldn’t help but laugh herself as Star lipped a strand of her hair and
pushed her with his head as if to say, “Get up and get back to business!”

Jody pulled herself up from the gooey straw and set the overturned bucket back up as Mary took ahold of Star’s rope.

“Alright, I’m going to look in that nest one more time, now that I know the mother is gone,” Jody declared, bravely stepping
onto the bucket once again and peering into the nest.

“What’s in there?” Mary asked immediately. “How many eggs?”

“Oh, Mary, there are no eggs at all,” Jody whispered.

“Well, go on to the next nest then,” Mary instructed impatiently.

“No, no . . . there aren’t any eggs, but there are two squabs! And they’ve got most of their feathers!”

“Let me see! Wait, I’ll get another bucket!” Mary exclaimed, dragging Star with her. Soon she was standing next to Jody, gazing
into the nest at the two spindly, knobby-beaked squabs while Star rubbed his head up and down on the side of her leg.

“Star, quit it! Oh, Jode, look at that white one! He must be Sky King’s baby; but he’s got black spots on his head and chest.
I’ve never seen one like that before!”

“Look at the other one, poor thing,” Jody murmured, touching the white squab’s nestmate gently on top of its head. This squab
was as plain as the other was beautiful—a dull gray with no special features—just like the pigeons that could be seen perched
on statues in the city.

Jody reached in and cupped her hands gently under the soft white breast of the beautiful black-spotted squab, nestling it
against her cheek to calm its struggling at her touch.

“Mary, he’s perfect! Let’s take him down to Lucky Foot and keep him as a pet until he can fly, and then we can set him free!”

Jody looked at Mary expectantly, waiting for her enthusiastic reply. But Mary wasn’t looking at Jody or the pretty white squab.
Her gaze was fixed on the forlorn, drab gray squab sitting quietly in the nest.

“Mary? Mare, what is it?” she asked.

Mary didn’t answer, but she reached slowly into the nest, gently picking up the gray squab and cradling it in her hands.

“Jody,” she said solemnly, “of course we want the beautiful squab. He’s much prettier and nicer to look at, with his white
feathers and rare black spots. But . . .”

Jody looked at Mary wide-eyed. “But what?”

“Well,” Mary answered quietly, “why do we always pick the prettiest things? It’s just not fair to the ones that aren’t so
pretty. If we leave the poor little gray guy here, he’ll go to market and no one will ever care because he’s not so pretty.
They’ll figure he wasn’t good for anything but dinner anyway. I think we should choose him! He needs us! And look, he’s already
used to me!”

And he was. The dull little squab had nestled down in Mary’s hand without a struggle, as if happy to be there. Even Star seemed
to agree, sniffing the squab gently nose to beak as Mary held him out for the colt’s approval. Jody sighed and set the white
squab back in the nest.

“I guess you’re right, Mare. He’ll be happy in the stable with us. Let’s go introduce him to Colonel Sanders—how do you think
he’ll feel about him?”