Chapter 15

The eagle was right. It was hilarious watching Robins, Crows, Sparrows, and Chickadees learn how to fish. Hector was the first to try. He started from high in the sky, tucked his wings in close, and dived toward the first fish he saw, but instead of pulling the fish from the water, he splashed down into the water soaking all his feathers, and nearly got ate by a huge bass before the eagle swooped down to pull him from just in front of the bass’s jaws and carry him to the safety of a maple tree! “Wow!” Hector shouted, “that was close! Thanks Mr. Eagle.”

“The name is Geronimo,” the eagle said.

“Well thanks, Geronimo,” Hector replied. “I thought my goose was cooked for a minute there. Thanks for saving me.”

“It was nothing,” Geronimo laughed. “I can see I’m going to have my beak full when it comes to teaching this bunch to fish.”

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to catch fish. While Geronimo made it look really easy, for the rest of them it was a real challenge. The first to even get a talon in a fish was Randy, but the fish he picked was bigger than he was so it quickly dragged him under the water as well. “No way, Dude!” Randy angrily shouted as he walked up on the shore too weighted with water to be able to fly. “There’s no way I’m going to be catching fish, not now, not ever!”

“But I thought you wanted to be a hero?” Larry mocked.

“You quit mocking me you stupid mockingbird,” Randy crowed. “I haven’t seen you catch any fish yet!”

Seeing that a fight was about to break out, Hector and Geronimo quickly stepped between the two angry birds. “I’ve got a better idea,” Geronimo said. “Why don’t I just fly with all of you? That way I can do your fishing for you.”

“Are you sure?” Hector said. “I don’t want you to take on too much responsibility.”

“Hey, somebody’s gotta do it,” Geronimo called. “Besides, I can catch one fish big enough to feed all of you for a whole day. It won’t be any trouble.”

“But it’s a long ways around the world,” Sidney asked, “are you sure you’re not too busy?”

“Hey,” Geronimo said, “all I do is fly around all day anyway. I might as well go somewhere. By the way, where are you guys from?”

“We’re from Minnesota,” Victor said, “and they’re from North Dakota.”

“I flew to Minnesota once,” Geronimo said, “land of ten thousand lakes and one fish.”

“I thought it was two fish?” Octavo questioned.

“That was before I got there,” Geronimo laughed, and all of them began laughing with him.