Open Writing

The Kookaburra was there long before the kitten was a glint in her father’s eye.

When she was born, along with three or four brothers and sisters, the bird, from his perch above, watched with interest as this little kitten with her team of tawny-coated siblings chased around the garden like so may fluffy balls rolling hither and thither.

She climbed higher and faster and got into more mischief than the others. Mumpuss was always scolding her and Daddypuss was always yowling warnings, but the little kitten still frisked around, poking her nose into everything. The Kookaburra couldn’t help but laugh at her day-long antics.

One day she climbed so high that she almost met the Kookaburra face to face.

“Kook…..kook…..kook!!” warned the bird staring at her with his large amber eyes.

“Don’t come any closer, young lady!”

The kitten was so surprised by this encounter that she nearly slipped off the branch and had to clutch frantically at it to steady herself. Brilliant blue eyes stared back unafraid at the bird. “Hello! They call me Kitty. Who are you, Sir?”

“I am Kookaburra.” he told her grandly sticking out his white chest.

“That’s much too hard to say. I will call you Kookie!”

The bird was taken aback by this audacity but he let it pass.

“I often see you up in the sky. When I am older I will join you” said silly Kitty.

“No you won’t!” replied the bird haughtily. “You have no wings. Look, I fly with these.”

He proudly spread his wings and flapped them.

Kitty was impressed, she tried to move her shoulders in the same manner and nearly fell off her branch.

“Will I never be able to fly, even if I try very very hard?” she asked.

“Well, I’ve heard people say that pigs might fly but I have heard nothing about cats flying. I wouldn’t try it if I were you.” he told Kitty sternly.

“But it looks like so much fun, Kookie. Tell me what it is like up there…tell me all about it, Kookie, please.”

The kookaburra happily told the kitten of his adventures in the sky, of the things he saw from up above, of how he dived into the water for fish and how he swooped down for mice lizards and worms for food. The kitten was fascinated. She couldn’t believe how big the world was beyond her garden.

After this, they became good friends and often met on the tree tops and the bird would tell the kitten about a world out of reach of his little friend. Can’t you take me with you the kitten kept asking the bird. Please, please, please, she would beg.

One day she finally talked the big kindly bird into it. He said they could give it a try – just a little one, mind you – and if Kitty fell and hurt herself he would not be responsible.

“Yeee..ow….Yes!” sang kitty and she promised not to hold the bird responsible for any mishap. With great excitement and as daring as ever, she hopped on to the bird’s broad back. The kookaburra told the kitten to hold on tight, then flapped his powerful brown wings a few times and took off, cautiously at first – just to the next tree – then further and further.
“Mhee…..heee….eeeow” sang kitty to the skies. “Go, Kookie, go! This is fun!”

Every day he took her further and further over a world the kitten had never seen, over bushland and valley, hill and plain, road and river. He took her to his home, a snug hole in a large branch of a tree which he had scooped out for himself and his family. He showed her how he hunted and caught food and even shared some of it with her.

The kitten thought the bird was wonderful and very wise and the bird thought that the kitten was very cute but quite a handful and very naughty at times, but there was no denying that they had a great time together.

When Kitty told her brothers and sisters of her adventures, they hissed their disbelief and told her not to tell lies so she kept her great adventure to herself. This close friendship went on for some time, but eventually, Kitty grew too heavy for Kookie and sadly they had to give up flying everywhere together.

* *

Time passed and Kitty had other thing to occupy her and Kookie had his own life to lead so they did not see so much of each other. Life went on for each of them and one day Kitty had kittens of her own and was totally involved with them and almost forgot her friend and their wonderful adventures together.

One day while sunning herself in the garden and relaxing after feeding and grooming her kittens – she never seemed to be without one litter or another nowadays – she heard a faint cry far above her.

“Kook…kook…kook….Kitty! Kook….kook….kook…Kitty!”

Kitty looked around finding the voice vaguely familiar. The call came again and suddenly she recognised the voice of her friend, the kookaburra, and she looked up.

“Hello…..is that you Kookie? Where are you……….oh, there you are. Gosh you are so high up. Can’t you come down a little lower and talk to me? Haven’t seen you around in ages!”

The bird said, “Come up to me, Kitty. I’ve hurt my wing and I can’t move or fly very well”. So Kitty, not nearly as young or as spry now but still agile, took a great leap and climbed up as far as she could without breaking any branches which at one time had no trouble bearing her weight.

“This is as far as I can go. What’s wrong Kookie? You don’t look too good.”
Kitty peered at her old friend through the leaves.

“I’ve hurt my wing and have not been able to get much food recently. I feel weak and hungry.”

As the bird talked, vaguely at first then little by little, the magic of earlier days came back to Kitty, the happy days when Kookie had taken her on his back and had shown her a world which she had almost forgotten now.

“Poor Kookie.” said Kitty. “Can I do anything for you?”

“I don’t see how, Kitty. You are a cat and I am a bird and I am getting old and I feel feeble without food…….we are worlds apart.”

But Kitty wouldn’t give up so easily. There had to be a way to help her friend.

She climbed down and stretched out in the sun, thinking hard about how to help him.

She thought back to the old days when the bird had shown her how he had caught fish from the river and the mice and lizards and other things that made up his food.

Suddenly she was off and running and in a little while came triumphantly back with a field mouse in her mouth. She climbed up the tree again and got as close as she could to the kookaburra and offered the mouse to her friend. It was his first good meal in days and he felt a lot better afterwards.

Kitty told the kookaburra that she would try and bring him something to eat everyday till he was better and could fly again. And she did this for several days until her friend’s wing mended and he grew strong again.

At last the kookaburra said, “I am ok now and I want to thank you, Kitty. I would not have survived without your help.”

Kitty replied, “ We were great friends once, Kookie, and you gave me a good time. We have both been busy since those days and have grown apart but we will be friends forever, and friends should help each other.”

Kookie laughed happily and Kitty meowed and purred in reply.

Although Kitty never flew with Kookie again, they kept in touch and Kitty would tell her children of her adventures, if they would listen long enough or believe her.

* *

So, if you are lucky and happen to be in Kitty’s garden, you could perhaps look up and see a cat snug in the fork of a tree meowing happily of days of yore to a laughing kookaburra sitting on a branch nearby, both completely lost in their own wonderful world where perhaps no human has ever been.