OLLI OWL’S FANTASTIC-SUPER-DUPER-LOOPTY-LOOPS

OLLI OWL’S FANTASTIC-SUPER-DUPER-LOOPTY-LOOPS

By: Rebecca Ramgoolam

Olli Owl was the best loopty-loop flier in the whole wide forest. It's not that the other fliers couldn't do some of them, they just weren't as good as Olli. The owls got extremely dizzy and disoriented or far too tired way too fast and the bats would crash into eachother causing all sorts of air traffic problems. The effort wasn't worth it for them. But as for Olli, for months and months he practiced and practiced until he finally got all the loopty-loops perfected.

He could do single loopty-loops.

Double loopty-loops.

Triple loopty-loops.

And the figure eight loopty-loops.

He could even do the up and down and down and up and all around loopty-loop without getting dizzy. And when there was a full moon, Olli would do a fantastic-super-duper-loopty-loop around it. All the owls would cheer for Olli, “encore, encore!” And Olli would happily do it all over again.

Once the word got out, the nighttime animals would come to watch and cheer for Olli too. Even the bats would come out and squint with all their might to catch even just a glimpse of his fantastic loopty-loops.

Olli was a happyand content owl. He had many night-time friends, but it was always his dream to become friends with the day-time animals too and to show them his loopty-loops. The only problem was...

...Olli slept during the day when all the day-time animals were up and about. And at night when he was awake, all the day-time animals were curled up in bed and sound asleep.

One night, Olli came up with a plan. Instead of going to bed when the sun came up, he would stay awake. He sat on a bump on his front branch and waited for the colours on the horizon to brighten. As the sun peeked out, Olli’s eyes grew heavy and before long he was fast asleep. It didn’t work, the plan had to be changed. Sitting and waiting was a dreary task. He would have to be alert when the sun came up if he wanted to meet the day-time animals.

The new plan: when it was time to wake up, he would stay in bed and try to go back to sleep so that he would feel like waking when the sun came up. As the moon got higher in the night sky, Olli found it hard to keep his eye lids shut.

“I will count sheep,” he decided. He counted and counted and counted. “173...174...175...Oh bother, it doesn’t work. I don’t feel sleepy at all. I will have to try again tomorrow.” And off he flew into the cool night air.

Tomorrow came and this time Olli tried singing himself lullabies. “Twinkle, twinkle little star....Oh, it’s no use. I sang all the lullabies I know fifty times each, but I can’t go back to sleep. I will try again tomorrow.”

As the sun set the following night and the moon rose in the starry sky, Olli woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailfeathered as he always did. He was, however, more determined than ever to make himself fall back to sleep. He got a warm glass of milk and sat in a warm bubble bath to read a story. After drinking 3 cups of milk, reading 10 books and re-heating the water 6 times, it didn’t work. The only thing that happened was that his feathers got very pruned and wilty and he had to use the bathroom really badly.

Olli was now more awake than he had been when the night started. “I guess I will never meet any of the day-time animals and they will never see me do my loopty-loops.”

Pouting, Olli got ready to join the other owls for breakfast. As he stepped outside his eyes opened wide and his beak gaped open...

....the sun had already come up and it was high in the sky. The first plan worked! Olli was so focused on going back to sleep that he didn't realize he had stayed awake all night, right past the sunrise. The forest animals were all out scurrying around and playing games. Excitedly, he jumped off of his branch and did a loopty-loop as he excitedly shouted, “hello everyone! I am Olli Owl. It's nice to finally meet all of you.”

“Wow! That was an awesome loopty-loop, Olli. Can we see another one?” The animals cheered.

Olli did single loopty-loops.

Double loopty-loops.

Triple loopty-loops.

And the figure eight loopty-loops.

He even did the up and down and down and up and all around loopty-loop.

The animals cheered and cheered for Olli. “Encore, encore,” they shouted.

So, last but not least, Olli did a fantastic-super-duper-loopty-loop around the sun for the very first time.

"Woo hoo, hooray for Olli! We are so glad to meet you," the animals shouted up at Olli, who was sitting, exhausted, on his home branch.

After doing all those loopty-loops and with all the excitement, Olli was now too tired to do any more. Blowing wing kisses, he thanked his new friends for a wonderful time and went to bed.

Olli slept the whole day and the whole night and the next day too.

Finally, as the sun set behind the trees, Olli Sat up in bed and stretched his wings wide with a smile on his face thinking about his new friends. “Even though I might not see my friends for a long time, I’m glad I was able to finally meet them and show them my loopty-loops.”

Feeling satisfied and fulfilled, Olli stepped outside and began his search for breakfast when he heard, “look! It’s Olli! Hooray for Olli!” All the day-time animals in the forest had stayed awake after the sun had set to see their new friend. Olli couldn’t have been happier. He swooped off his branch and performed all of his loopty-loops and with the suggestions from his new friends he came up with some new ones. He could now do spiral loopty-loops around a tree and through the branches; loopty-loops around the tummy of the tallest deer, up to ten in a row; and the grab a bucket of water loopty-loop over by the pond.

Every once in a while the forest animals would stay up and surprise Olli, not just to watch his loopty-loops but to play and talk and have fun. And whenever Olli felt like having a warm glass of milk or three and a few warm bubble baths, he would stay up and surprise his new friends during the day too.

THE END