Helping Hand

"Oh my goodness. How are you? How was your time? I bet you saw many shows. So many shows. I mean you'd have to when if you're in Hoppersville. Hoppersville is known for the arts. Did you know that once upon a time I played King Lear? But enough about me. What did you think? What did you do?" An excited Jacob pauses to catch his breath. "We went to a bar." I say. "A bar?" "Yeah, the Flea's Bar. " Olivia adds. Jacob rolls his eyes. "You went to that?" "It's possible that beetle dropped us off on the wrong side of town because we didn't see much of anything else." I say. "To be fair many of the grasshoppers are hybernateing this time of year,but you two were gone for some time. Surely you must have gone elsewhere." He states. "We also saw River Bank." Olivia says. "River Bank. That's a good town too." "It was, but I think we're ready to be big again." Olivia replies. "Ah. The life of a bug is not for everyone." Jacob says. "No it's not. Is Hilda around?" Olivia asks. "She's out." "Where is she?" Jacob shakes his head.  "Business trip I guess." We both sigh loudly. "Hey, it's nothing to fret about." He assures. "What do you mean?" Olivia demands. "I've watched her dozens of times. I think I can make the spell myself." "I don't know about this." I say. "Trust me." Jacob puts out his hand. Olivia and I reluctantly climb on and he takes us inside.

Taping on the Window

We hopped out of the nest and carefully walked on the branch to the window. We glanced inside. Thankfully, Jacaob was in the room. Granted, he was asleep on the bunk bed, but it was nice to finally see someone we knew. We banged on the window with our little fists. Unfortunately, it didn't do much. "This is usueless. He probably thinks it's rain." Olivia Says.  "I know, but we can't stop." We continue to pound on the window as hard as we can without waking Jacob. We are, however, able to catch the attention of Mrs. Robin. She flies over to us. "Did we forget something?" I ask. Mrs. Robin shakes her head.  She then chirps loudly and repeatedly. We hear Jacob groan. After that Mrs. Robin taps at the window with her beak. Jacob, groggily looks to the window. Olivia and I use big gestures to grab his attention. I can tell we are successful because his jaw drops slightly. Olivia pantomimes opening the window. Jacob nods his head and Mrs. Robin flies away.

Home Repair

Luckily the baby robins were not injured by the flying rock,  and the hole in the nest was only about the size of a quarter. I shouldn't say only. When you are small, something that size is huge. It could easily be a day project, or longer. Olivia and I rolled up our sleeves and got to work. It was quite difficult in the beginning. It would appear as though progress was being made, and then it would cave in. It would do this every time. "I don't understand what we're doing wrong." Olivia says. "Well, how do birds do it?" I  ask. "Exactly what we are doing. They gather twigs together." All the sudden a thought occurs to me. "But how do they get the leaves and twigs to stick together?" "They... oh... no I don't want to do that." "It might be the only way." I say. Olivia sighs. "Very well." Olivia and I spit untill our mouths are dry and we are all but out of phlegm. By the time we are done working there is an aweful stentch, and our hands are sticky, but the wall holds up. Mrs. Robin admires our work. She then gives us permission to go to the window.

Twigs and Leaves

We hopped on the robin and soared high in the air. We flew away from the willow tree, away from the miniature towns below, away from everything we had known the past few weeks. We eventually landed in middle of the meadow amidst piles of dead leaves and twigs. Olivia slides off the robin. "I don't understand. Why are we here?" I ask. "Isn't it obvious?" She says. "No." "We're here to get supplies to repair her home." She says.  I slide off the robin and gather building supplies with Olivia. It seems at first that the robin has a problem with every twig and leaf that we present to her. We think we're doing  good and show her our pile, but she caws. It is especially frustrating because we don't exactly know what she is looking for, and she can't exactly communicate that with us. Finally, probably through sheer luck, we are able to present a pile that she deems worthy. She nods her head approvingly. Olivia and I grab as many twigs and leaves as we can. The rest the robin carries in her beak. We climb on her back carefully, and we take off into the sky for her nest.

Mrs. Robin

I didn't view the bird as particularly threatening, but I didn't want to be pecked to death either, so I kept my distance. I sidestepped a little and I could see its orange chest. It was a robin. The bird of spring. I took that as a good sign. "I just want to apologize. I think we got off on the wrong foot." The robin cocks its head. I realize it might not understand me. "How is that that this is the only creature we've encountered lately that doesn't speak English?" I shout to Olivia. "I don't know, but try anyways." Olivia says. I take a deep breath. "Me and my friend over there..." I point to Olivia. "We accidentally threw a rock at your home." The robin raises its wings and caws loudly. "It was an accident. Complete accident. We didn't mean to." I assure. The robin lowers its wings. "We were trying to hit that window up there." I point to the window. The robin cocks its head in that direction. "We really need to get up to that window. Could you perhaps give us a ride?" The robin caws angrily at me. "Okay. I wouldn't give me a ride either. But we really need this. We'll do anything for you. We'll even help repair your home." The robin thinks for a moment then nods. She looks at Olivia in the distance and ushers her to come closer.

Bird Attack

Olivia starts to run away. She stops after a few feet when she realizes that I am not behind her. "Why are you standing there?" She shouts. "Why are we running?" "Because we just hit a bird with a rock." "So?" I can see the bird peaking out of the nest. "What do you mean so?" The bird stands up tall. It sees me, and I see it. "How you know it's gonna attack us?" I ask. "Because we hit it, and we are the  sizes of insects." The bird opens its wings. "I don't think it will eat us." I say. "What makes you so sure of that?" Olivia asks. "I just know." The bird flies out of the nest. It shoots itself in my direction. "You have to run." Olivia shouts. "No, I'm not running." "What?" "Fire a heart." "What?" "Just fire a heart at it." The bird is now less than a foot away from me. Olivia fires a pink heart at it. It hits the bird in the nick of time, causing it to veer slightly to the left. A couple of the feathers brush my arm, but at least it doesn't crash into me. I turn around to see the bird sitting calmly. "Nice shot." I tell Olivia. I start to walk over to it. "What are you doing?" Olivia asks. "We're gonna get a ride up to the window." "Are you sure that's a good idea?" "You sedated it, didn't you?" "I gave it a slight change in perspective. It's still bound to be a little upset though." "I gotcha. I'll keep my distance for now."

Throwing Rocks

We had to enter Hilda's Inn if for no other reason than returning to our normal sizes. We couldn't do it our own. We knew Hilda was the only one who could help us, but we were locked out. I, however, did not want to give up. I climbed out of the hollow, slid down the base, and ran to the side of the tree. By the time Olivia caught up to me I was still panting. "What are you doing?" She asks. I point to a window near the top of the tree. "Yeah, so? It's a window." "That's the room with the bunkbeds." "Ok." "Remember when there was a storm and Norm came through the window?" "Are you suggesting we climb the tree?" I shake my head.  "Then what?" She asks. "Norm, or Freddy, or Jacob is probably in that room right now. All we gotta do is throw a rock a rock at the window to get their attention." "It's not a bad idea. There's only one problem." She says. "What's that?" "We're basically gnats right now. If no one could hear us knocking on the door they're not gonna hear us throwing rocks." "But don't you think we should try?" I  ask. Olivia sighs. "I suppose." I grab a handful of pebbles. I throw them as hard as I possibly can.  Unfortunately, not one single pebble hits the window. They all either hit the middle or miss the tree entirely. Olivia rests her hand on my shoulder. "You made a good effort." "You wanna try?" I ask. Olivia half smiles. "Sure." She grabs a handful of pebbles and tosses them in the direction of window. They appear to fly past the window and into the branches. Half a second later we hear an angry bird caw. "What was that?" Olivia asks, worried. "I don't know,  but I don't think it was the window." It caws again. Olivia turns to me, pale. "We have to get out of here. "