Hedgehog and Scoop

Note: Hedgehog and Scoop (a pelican) are my kids’ favorite stuffed animals. I will often use familiar objects as jumping off points for a story, and they went to bed with these a few nights ago. What better way to enter a night’s sleep than by hugging the stars of your very own Daddy Story?

After a good day’s sleep, Hedgehog emerged from her burrow in the late afternoon and started looking for something to eat. One of her favorite spots to forage was by the berry bushes that grew near the cliffs next to the ocean, so she headed straight there and found that the bushes were full of berries. Just as she had about had her fill, she noticed the biggest, juiciest berry she had ever seen. It was dangling just out of reach on a branch hanging out over the cliff.

Determined to sink her teeth into the berry, she hooked her front feet over the branch and slowly scooted over toward it. When she was about halfway there, she heard a loud SNAP and, before she knew it, she was tumbling down, down, down toward the ocean below. She landed with a great splash in the frothy surf below. She was sure to be lost…

But not far away, a pelican named Scoop was perched on a rock and had seen Hedgehog fall. He took off immediately and dove headfirst into the water to retrieve the poor wet creature. With a beak full of hedgehog and salty water, Scoop flew to a nearby beach and emptied his pouch onto the sand. Hedgehog rolled out and began to cough and sputter.

“What happened?” she asked.

“You fell from the cliff and I just rescued you from the sea,” answered Scoop. “What were you doing near the cliffs, anyway?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Hedgehog. “I was trying to get the biggest, tastiest berry I ever saw from one of the bushes that grow up there. Did you happen to see it in the water?”

“No, I was only worried about you,” said Scoop.

“Thank you so much!” said Hedgehog, now better aware of the danger she had been in. She approached Scoop and gave him a giant hug. (Well, it wasn’t really a giant hug because hedgehogs are much smaller than pelicans, but it was as big a hug as she could muster.)

“So you risked your life for a berry, did you?” said Scoop. “I’ve never had one. Are they really that good to eat?”

“Yes, they are the best!” replied Hedgehog. “Do you want me to bring you some?”

“Sure, I would like to try some,” said Scoop.

So Hedgehog and Scoop waddled up the hill back toward the cliffs where the berries grew. Hedgehog gathered up a few berries and presented them to Scoop, who carefully picked one up with the tip of his beak, leaned his head back, and dropped the berry into his throat.

“Hmmm,” said Scoop. “I don’t think it’s the best thing ever, but it’s not bad.”

“If berries aren’t the best thing ever,” asked Hedgehog, “then what is?”

“Fish!” replied Scoop. “Shall I get one for you to try?

“Yes, please!” said Hedgehog.

So Scoop took off from the cliff and flew down closer to the water. He started circling for a bit and then dove down into the water with his beak open. When he returned to where Hedgehog was waiting, he opened his beak and dropped a wiggling, glistening sliver fish at her feet.

“There you are,” said Scoop. “The best food ever.”

Hedgehog had eaten moving things before — one of her favorite snacks was insects — but never anything this large. She used her front feet to hold own the fish and then opened her mouth to take a bite.

“I like to eat them whole,” said Scoop.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to manage that,” said hedgehog, pointing to her small mouth.

She gathered herself up once, and then took a small bite out of the fish, right above one of the fins. As she chewed, she started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” asked Scoop.

“Well, it’s not the best food I ever had,” she answered, “but it’s not bad.”

She offered the rest of the fish to Scoop, who gladly accepted.

“So what do you like to do for fun?” asked Scoop.

“I like to roll down hills and bounce off of bushes,” said Hedgehog. “They tickle. I can show you my favorite rolling spot.” After Scoop said he’d like to try it, Hedgehog led him to the top of a nearby grassy green hill.

“OK, watch me to see how you do it,” said Hedgehog as she started to roll into a tight ball. “One, two, three!” And with that, she rolled down the hill, bouncing off of a bush or two on the way down. When she reached the bottom, she unrolled and said, “Ta da! Now you try!”

Scoop tried to make his body into the shape of a ball as best he could, but his beak just would not bend. “Oh well, here goes nothing!” Scoop leaned forward and let gravity take hold of his body. He didn’t roll very smoothly at all, though. His beak make him go bump bump, bump bump, bump bump all the way down to the bottom, where Hedgehog was once again giggling.

“You’re not a very good roller,” she said.

“No, I’m not,” said Scoop, “but I bet you’re not a very good flier.”

“I don’t even have wings,” said Hedgehog.

“I could take you up in my pouch,” said Scoop. “I promise not to fly too fast.”

“I would love to try that,” said Hedgehog, with a bit of excitement.

So Scoop lowered his beak and opened it. Hedgehog walked in. Then Scoop took off and flew out over the ocean. He started to fly in big circles, leaving his beak open just enough so that Hedgehog could see the sky, the clouds, and the beautiful ocean below. Hedgehog was scared at first, but she trusted Scoop and was able to relax and enjoy herself.

After completing a few great circles, Scoop came back down and landed on the hill where they had been rolling. The sun was setting now and he was starting to get tired. After letting Hedgehog out of his mouth, he told her, “It’s getting close to my bedtime, so I’ll have to say good-bye for today.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” said Hedgehog. “I stay up late all the time. I really like the night time.”

“Well, my eyes don’t work very well without the sunlight,” explained Scoop.

“OK, then,” said Hedgehog. “Will I see you again?”

“I’m sure you will,” answered Scoop. “If you stay away from those cliffs, anyway.”

The Flirt and the Sulker

Everybody has a Flirt and a Sulker. They live on your shoulders, one on each side. They’re small creatures with large furry feet so they have very good balance. A Flirt has brightly-colored hair that points straight up. A Sulker’s hair is brown or black and almost always hangs down over its ears. Both like to wear warm button-up coats — even in the summer when it’s hot outside.

Your Flirt and Sulker have been there since you were born. When you learned how to talk, your Flirt and Sulker learned how to talk, too, and that’s when they started trying to change you. You see, your Flirt and your Sulker are always telling you what you should do, but they have very different ideas about what that is. When you decide to listen to one instead of the other, that choice can change the kind of person you are.

The Flirt really likes adventures and wants you to try new things, but the Sulker likes it when you stay home and read your favorite books. The Flirt wants you to have a lot of friends so you can always have someone to play with, but the Sulker thinks one or two friends is enough. The Flirt sometimes tells you to do naughty things, too, like take all your toys and dump them out of their containers onto the floor. Your Sulker can also be naughty. Sometimes, when your parents ask you to clean up a mess, the Sulker will tell you to pretend you didn’t hear them.

If your Sulker or your Flirt tell you to do something that you don’t want to do, you don’t have to listen to them. If either or both of them keep trying to tell you something you don’t like, you can teach them a lesson. To teach your Sulker a lesson you grab him off your shoulder, put him on the ground, kick him as hard as you can, and then run the other way so he can’t find you for a while. Teaching your Flirt a lesson is almost the same, but instead of kicking him you have to throw him as far as you can.

If you look carefully, you will see that most kids have a Flirt that is larger or smaller than their Sulker. Sometimes they are a lot bigger or smaller. This happens because the more you listen to your Flirt or your Sulker, the bigger they will get. If you see a person with a Flirt that’s a lot bigger than their Sulker, that means they have listened to their Flirt a lot more than they have listened to their Sulker. People whose Flirts are a lot bigger than their Sulkers can be a lot of fun to be around, but they can get annoying after a while. The same is true of people whose Sulkers are a lot bigger than their Flirts. They can be a lot of fun to play with if you like some of the same things that they do, but if you try to get them to do something new, then they’re not so much fun any more because they don’t want to try it.

You might be wondering where Flirts ans Sulkers came from. Your mommy and daddy have Flirts and Sulkers, too. When we got married, mommy’s Flirt married my Flirt and mommy’s Sulker married my Sulker. (The Flirts and Sulkers helped us get married because they wanted to live together, too!) Then, when we had a baby, the Flirts and Sulkers each had a baby, too: one baby Flirt and one baby Sulker. Right after you were born, they moved onto your shoulders and became your own.

Nobody really knows where the first Flirt and Sulkers came from. Some people think they came from outer space. Other people think they’re just really smart animals that learned how to talk and like to ride on shoulders and get you into trouble. I’m not sure who is right, but I do know that they can be very helpful about as much as they can be naughty. Part of growing up is learning when it’s good to listen to them and when it’s good to kick them or throw them away.