Melody Meets Gabby

 “Hi Jake!” called Midge when she saw him coming through the gate.

“Hey Midge!” smiled Jake. “What are you doing?”

“I'm waiting for Booker-T,” said Midge. “He went to Melody's house early this morning.”

“Who is Melody?” asked Gabby as he flew down from the tree and landed on the porch railing.

“Hi Gabby,” said Midge and Jake.

“Who is Melody?” asked Gabby again.

“She is our new friend,” said Jake. “She looks like Booker-T's twin.”

“Oh no!” laughed Gabby. “Two Booker-Ts. How lucky we are.”

“Are you being mean?” asked Jake. “She is really nice.”

“I'm kidding,” said Gabby.

“Here they come now,” said Midge. “Be nice Gabby.”

Booker-T ad Melody strolled in the yard and joined Midge and Jake.

“Hi Midge,” greeted Melody. “Hi Jake.”

“Hi guys,” said Booker-T.

“Wow,” said Gabby. “A smaller version of Booker-T.

“Hi Gabby,” said Booker-T. “This is our new friend, Melody. Melody, this is Gabby.”

“A bird!” said Melody.

“Gabby is our friend,” said Jake. “so we don't eat Gabby.”

“That's right,” smiled Gabby. “We are all friends here. No eating your friends.”

“You sure have a lot of different friends,” said Melody. “Cats and dogs, a turtle and a bird.”

“We also have some horse friends and a couple of elephants and there are others,” said Midge. “We love everyone. Doesn't matter that you are different or the same.”

“That's really nice,” said Melody. “I'm sure I will fit in with you all.”

“Gabby isn't around all the time,” said Jake. “he lives across town with his friend Polly on a nice big farm.”

“I used to live on a farm until my owner had to sell it and he gave me to his sister here in town,” sighed Melody. “I loved living on the farm in the country.”

“Do you miss the farm?” asked Booker-T.

“Oh, yes,” said Melody. “It was fun on the farm. Lot of room to run and play and I had many cat friends out there.”

“No dogs?” asked Jake.

“There was a big dog,” said Melody. “But he was mean to all the cats and was always chasing us around.”

“I think a lot of animals can be mean,” said Midge. “Sometimes you have to talk to them and maybe they will not be mean anymore.”

“Some humans are that way too,” said Booker-T. “I thought everyone was mean until I met Midge and Jake.”

“You will sure have fun with these three,” laughed Gabby. “Midge is always finding mischief to get into.”

“I like to have fun,” said Midge. “I see all those humans having fun and they just toss us a ball now and then and call that fun. I do like playing ball with them, but I want other adventures.”

“Whatever the humans are doing,” said Jake. “Midge likes to try to do them.”

“What kind of things do you like to do?” asked Melody.

“She tried to fly one time,” laughed Gabby. “And she fell flat on her face at the bottom of the hill.”

“Dogs can't fly,” laughed Melody. “I know that.”

“That doesn't stop Midge,” said Jake. “She thought if we put feathers on her, she would be able to fly like Gabby.”

“What happened?” asked Melody. “How did she try to fly?”

“We went to a hill,” said Booker-T. “When we got to the top, she jumped off and was waving those feathers up and down trying to stay up in the air.”

“And in a few minutes she was laying on the ground, moaning,” said Jake.

“Didn't that hurt?” asked Melody. “When you fell onto the ground from up on the hill?”

“It hurt for a little while and she limped around for two days,” said Gabby. “We all just laughed at her for wanting to fly like a bird. And that wasn't the first time she tried it.”

“She always makes us laugh,” said Jake.

“I guess it is safer on the ground for us dogs and cats,” said Melody.

“Sometimes that can be dangerous too,” said Jake.

“Why?” asked Melody. “Well, I guess if you aren't careful, a car could run over you.”

“Or a bull could chase you,” laughed Jake. “We went to the farm one day and a big black bull chased Midge across the field.”

“And you could go head first into a snow bank,” laughed Booker-T.

“Oh, now that was funny,” said Jake. “Her little feet were waving in the air and her head was buried in the snow.”

“How did you breathe?” asked Melody with a startled look on her face.

“They had to hurry and pull me out,” said Midge. “It was fun flying through the air off the sled. But hitting that snow bank was hard.”

“It sure is going to be fun with all you guys,” smiled Melody. “This will be better than living on the farm.”

“What are you guys going to do today?” asked Gabby.

“We don't know yet,” said Jake. “Hadn't talked about anything yet. We were waiting for Melody and Booker-T to come to the house.”

“Any ideas Midge?” asked Gabby.

“No, not yet,” sighed Midge. “I want to do something different.”

“Why don't you go and watch the races?” suggested Gabby.

“What races?” asked Jake.

“Motorcycles,” said Gabby.

“And no, you can't ride a motorcycle,” laughed Jake.
“I didn't say anything,” said Midge.

“I know,” said Jake. “But I'm betting you were thinking about trying it if you got the chance.”

“But we know you Midge,” said Booker-T. “Remember when you wanted to ride the go-carts too?”

“I only wanted to ride it with my owner's nephew,” smiled Midge.

“You scared him when you jumped into it when he started going down the hill,” said Jake. “I thought for sure he was going to crash the cart.”

“But he won the race,” said Midge. “Remember?”

“I remember,” said Jake.

“Do you want to go see the races?” asked Melody.

“Okay,” said Midge. “Lets go. I promise not to try and ride one.”

They all agreed to go watch the races and hurried out of the gate with Gabby flying above.