Transcript for Parent Storytellers
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Oni Pepperoni was bouncing on his backyard trampoline. Up and down he went, his pepperoni-spotted cheeks flushed with excitement.
“Higher! Higher!” Oni shouted to himself as he jumped with all his might. The trampoline springs squeaked and stretched with each bounce, sending him flying toward the fluffy white clouds.
Just as Oni was reaching his highest bounce yet, something unexpected happened. A chicken with bright white feathers wandered into his yard and hopped onto the trampoline!
“Look out!” Oni called, but it was too late. He was already coming down from his big jump.
Oni landed right next to the chicken, causing it to bounce high into the air. The startled chicken flapped its wings frantically, sending feathers flying everywhere.
“I’m so sorry!” Oni called to the chicken, who was now safely back on the ground, looking quite confused.
But something strange was happening. The white chicken feathers weren’t falling to the ground. Instead, they were floating toward Oni and sticking to his arms!
“What’s going on?” Oni wondered as more and more feathers attached themselves to him.
The chicken clucked nervously and waddled a few steps away. Oni noticed his teddy bear pillow lying on the trampoline. He picked it up and gently tossed it toward the chicken.
“Here, chicken! This will make you feel better,” he said.
The pillow softly bopped the chicken on its head before falling to the ground. The chicken blinked twice, then shook its head as if to say, “What a silly boy!”
Just then, Oni felt something strange on his back. He turned his head to look at his left side, then his right.
“Wow! I have wings!” he gasped in amazement.
The chicken feathers had formed two perfect wings on his back. Without thinking, Oni jumped high on the trampoline one more time, spread his new wings wide, and found himself soaring up into the blue sky! “I’m flying!” Oni shouted with glee as he flapped his feathery wings.
He zoomed over his neighborhood, waving to his friend Betty who was playing in her front yard.
“Look at me, Betty!” Oni called down.
Betty looked up, her mouth open in surprise. “Oni? Is that you? You’re flying!”
Oni did a loop-de-loop in the air, showing off his new flying skills. But soon, he noticed a problem. His wings were starting to feel heavy, and he wasn’t staying up as easily.
“Uh-oh,” Oni said as he began to wobble in the air. “I think I’m too heavy for these chicken feathers!”
Sure enough, his wings couldn’t hold him anymore. Oni began to spiral downward, spinning round and round like a leaf falling from a tree.
“Woaaaah!” he cried as he tumbled through the air.
Far below, a flock of pelicans was flying over the coastline. One pelican, named Piper, looked up and saw something unusual falling from the sky.
“What’s that?” Piper wondered, changing direction to investigate.
As Oni fell closer, Piper realized it was a small boy with pepperoni spots on his cheeks and chicken feathers stuck to his arms. Quick as a flash, Piper opened her enormous bill and caught Oni before he could fall any farther.
Inside the pelican’s bill, Oni found himself in a strange, dark place. He was sliding around with something slippery – a fish that Piper had caught from the sea earlier!
“Where am I?” Oni wondered, feeling the curved walls around him. He knocked gently on the side. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
To Oni’s surprise, the darkness suddenly disappeared as Piper opened her bill. Bright sunlight poured in, and Oni could see the pelican’s big eyes looking at him curiously.
“Oh, hello there,” said Piper in a surprised voice. “I thought you were just a little bug zooming around. But you’re a little boy with pepperoni cheeks!”
“Yes, I’m Oni Pepperoni,” Oni introduced himself. “Thank you for catching me. My wings stopped working.”
“Wings?” Piper chuckled. “Those are chicken feathers! They’re not meant for human flying. Let me take you back to the ground where you belong.” Piper began to descend, carefully carrying Oni in her bill. But flying with a passenger was trickier than Piper expected. As they neared the ground, Piper accidentally flew too close to a house.
“Oops!” said Piper as Oni slipped from her bill and tumbled down the chimney of the house.
“Whooooosh!” Oni slid down the dark chimney, gathering soot all over himself. He landed with a soft “plop” in a fireplace filled with ashes.
Coughing and sputtering, Oni climbed out of the fireplace. To his amazement, he realized he was in his own living room! The chicken feathers were still stuck to his arms, but now they were black with soot.
Just then, Oni’s mama walked in. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the sooty, feathery boy standing in the middle of the room.
“Oni Pepperoni! Where have you been, and what have you been playing with?” she asked, her eyes wide with surprise.
Oni looked down at himself. He was covered from head to toe in black chimney soot, and chicken feathers were sticking out from his arms and back.
“Oh, Mama, I had the most amazing adventure!” Oni began excitedly. “I was jumping on the trampoline when a chicken came by, and I accidentally bounced on it, and its feathers made wings on my back!”
As Oni told his story about flying high in the sky and being rescued by a pelican, his mama listened with a smile, though she didn’t quite believe such a wild tale could be true.
“Well, adventure or not, it’s straight to the bath for you,” she said, leading him to the bathroom.
After a long, bubbly bath, Oni was clean again. The chicken feathers had all washed away, but Oni didn’t mind. He knew he had experienced something truly special.
The next day, as Oni played in the backyard, he found some big green leaves that had fallen from the trees. He picked them up and held them to his arms.
“Maybe these will work better than feathers,” he said to himself with a grin.
And with that, he began running around the yard, leaves stretched out like wings, imagining all the new adventures waiting for him up in the sky.