Lulu Makes a Flying Machine For Olive

"Tails & Tales" short stories–which show case the voices of the animals and Mrs. Dunn– will be posted here as they are written. I will continue to post them on Patreon also. In time, I might be bringing the last years of "Tails& Tales" stories here to archive for blog readers.

“Mrs. Dunn!” I heard as I left the house. It was Pickles the goat. I prepared myself for the worst and hoped for the best. “I ran out of glue,” Pickles said.

It was two weeks before Halloween. I promised myself I would not get pushed into costume making this year.

“What happened to the no glue rule?” I asked as I entered the barn.

“I thought it was the no glitter rule?” asked Pickles.

“That’s another one,” I said. “Dare I ask what you are up to?”

“My costume is a puddle, and Puddles is going to be a pickle. Get it?” Pickles asked. And she and Puddles started laughing uncontrollably.

Goat humor, I thought.

Earnest came walking in with some blue wrapping paper. “Here you go Pickles, it’s all I have,” he said.

“Well, I guess I won’t be a very big puddle, just a little puddle,” said Pickles.

“Better to be a little puddle than a sour pickle!” said Puddles, and the two began another laughing fit.

Suddenly, a tiny dark creature ran into the barn–it leapt to the right, and to the left, and then to the right again, and then the left, stopping at my feet.

“Lulu!” everyone yelled in unison.

“I found some nails, now I need a hammer to finish my box!” Lulu said in excitement.

My head raced back to when I was five and I too found some nails, and a hammer, and I made a monkey cage, at least that is what it was in my imagination. In reality it was a 5” deep box with crooked wood bars. It would need a very skinny monkey but I was convinced if I built it, my mother would get me one. So with that memory, I kindly asked Lulu, “What are you going to make, Lulu?”

“A flying box, so Olive Oil can go for a ride in the sky!”

Olive Oil was another little baby goat that arrived with a condition that made her crippled and she could not walk or run like most goats. She lived in a special hut with Lulu so she wouldn’t be lonely but she couldn’t be around the big goats alone.

Earnest the pig stepped in, “How will it fly, Lulu?”

The Goose started flapping his wings and Earnest said, “Of course, your feathers will be perfect!” 

Pickles gathered some feathers and said, “Come on, Lulu, I’ll help glue these onto your box!”

I whispered to Earnest, “We can’t break Olive’s heart, how will it fly?” I asked.

“I’ll figure something out,” the pig said.

The next day, I heard excitement in the barnyard. There was Mister Dunn, running around with a box over his shoulders, goose feathers blowing in the breeze, and a little crippled goat laughing in pure joy as she flew through the air. All the animals followed behind them, including a tiny blue puddle, and a pickle.