“Hey! I saw that worm first!” Stiff yelled to Bluey, flying down to the leafy path to join his sister.
“Stiff! Shut your beak! I’m trying to watch the squirrel Olympics!” Beaky retorted, gobbling a piece of caramel worm.
“No! Stiff! This is my worm!” Bluey screamed as Stiff tried to take the juicy worm from her beak.
“Stiff and Bluey! Stop fighting and come join me in the aerie!” Beaky yelled. “I have more food here!”
“Fine…” Stiff grumbled, fllying up to the aerie as Bluey happily munched on her worm.
They were watching through the back window at the squirrels, running along the thick fence, each trying to reach the finish line first. The winner got ten acorns–and a golden medal.
“Hey, look! Peter’s racing too!” Beaky shouted as they saw the little rabbit join the race.
“Peter?!” Bluey called up as she flew to the window. “But this is squirrel olympics, not for bunnies!”
“He’s trying to change the rules so that any animal can compete.” Beaky said.
“Wow.” Stiff said. “He’s fast. But I’m faster!”
“Stiff!” Beaky said. “You don’t have to be the best at everything!”
“Too bad. I can run! Faster than Peter!” Stiff said as he flew onto the porch, then to the start line.
Then he flew across the whole race, flying faster than Peter.
At first, the other competitors didn’t notice the young bird soaring above the squirrels, but then they did.
Shouting and yelling cascaded over the stadium as Stiff reached the finish line, landing perfectly.
“See? I am better than Peter Rabbit!” he shouted.
The crowd booed. “Cheater!” someone shouted. “Peter may be fast, and you may be faster, but this Olympics is NOT for other animals!”
Just then, a chipmunk walked into the stadium. “What’s going on here?” she asked.
“Chip, Peter entered the Olympics, and then this bird did too!” the head squirrel shouted.
“Peter isn’t doing anything wrong.” Chip said. “Maybe we should rewrite the rules.”
“No! Tradition!” a squirrel shouted.
“Well, everybody feels different, right?” Chip asked. “We should make a compromise, and rewrite the rules. Sometimes tradition has to change.”
“Fine.” the head squirrel grumbled.
“Good.” replied Chip. “First of all, we have to let any live animal compete in the Olympics. We will change the name of the Olympics to be the Creature Olympics. Number two. The prize will be a medal. There will be three medals. First place winner gets a gold medal, second place gets a silver medal, and third place gets a bronze medal. Number three. Any creature may compete in the Olympics, but you must run. No flying or swimming or anything like that. And if any creature disobeys the rules, they will be disqualified. Okay?”
“That sounds fine.” the head squirrel said.
“Then let’s start over the race.” Chip replied.
“Ready, set…GO!” the squirrel shouted, and all of the woodland creatures began to run.
A while later, Peter raced through the finish line, closely followed by a little hedgehog. Then lastly came a squirrel.
“We have our winners!” the head squirrel yelled. “First place! Peter Rabbit! Second place! Amy Hedgehog! Third place! Grey Squirrel!”
He handed out the medals, and then the race was over.
THE END!
I wrote this story during one of NaNoWriMo’s May Write-ins–they’re super fun! Check out their Youtube Channel here. Have you done any of the live Write-Ins?
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