Charlie the Cricket Learns to Sing
Charlie the Cricket Learns to Sing
Charlie the Cricket Learns to Sing
Midpoint
Charlie the Cricket Learns to Sing
By Anne Spackman
Copyright 2012 by Anne Spackman
Smashwords Edition
Cover art by Anne Spackman
Using Wikipedia Commons public domain picture
Field Crickets are tiny insects that live in meadows. Charlie the Cricket was born in the middle of a stormy night at the end of the Starlight Meadow, just where the Rainbow Forest begins. Now, crickets like to chirp and sing at night. Charlie’s father Connor was not so good a singer, but he was a nice enough fellow. Connor liked to sit on a long blade of grass in the evenings after a nice meal of fresh plants. There, clinging to a long stalk Charlie’s father Connor would chirp away into the night air song after song as crickets do by rubbing their wings together.
Charlie’s family lived in a tiny den on the ground. Charlie’s brothers were all different singers. But Charlie felt very sad and different than the others because he could not sing. He wanted to sing very badly, but when he rubbed his wings together to make noise, they were quiet and just made a rustling sound. Charlie was very disappointed in himself, but his father Connor assured him that one day Charlie would sing if he tried long enough and practiced hard enough.
“You will sing lovely songs, my son, if you keep trying,” reassured Connor to Charlie. “Have patience, my son.”
Charlie nodded. He soon set about practicing making his calling songs. Rub, rub, rub. He rubbed his wings together so hard, but no sound came. He tried and tried again, but no sound came. Finally, Charlie decided to wait and see if time would help make his wings grow strong. So every day, he practiced rubbing his wings together, even though for many days he could not sing.
Several days later, there was a loud mewing sound in Starlight Meadow. Charlie and his brothers came out of their den to see a small orange tabby cat purring and preening after a meal. The little cat was sitting in the meadow. She then stretched out her legs.
Suddenly, the cat came towards the young crickets. When she got near, she saw one of the young crickets and started to bat at him with her paw. She struck the young cricket, and caught him up in her paw. He quickly jumped away and the crickets hurried back to their den to escape the cat. They were lucky that they did!
The next day, Charlie heard a sweet little songbird singing in the tree nearby. He and his brothers were sitting outside on the meadow, and suddenly had to jump jump jump to avoid the bird that swooped low looking for a cricket meal. They jumped and jumped and returned to their den as fast as they could.
That night, Charlie had a dream. He dreamed he could sing great songs, standing free into the wind.
The next day, Charlie was outside and felt so happy to be alive after escaping both a cat and a bird looking for a meal that he sat on a rock and rubbed his wings together with great happiness in his heart.
Chirp-chirp-chirp! Charlie was singing! He was suddenly jumping for joy. As his father had said, his practice and patience would pay off, and now Charlie was singing away songs into the summer sun. It must have been all of the jumping that he had done to escape the cat and the bird that had made his legs and wings strong enough to sing. But, for whatever reason Charlie was able to sing now, Charlie was happy and grateful for his new skill. And he sang every night from that day on.
Anne Spackman, Charlie the Cricket Learns to Sing
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