Blue Bell Learns to Fly

Blue Bell
Learns to Fly

Blue Bell sat on the edge of the wood with his best friend Buckeye and looked up at the sky.
“I wish I could fly,” he said quietly, as he watched the birds soaring and darting through the air.
“I’m not so sure I would like to be so high up in the air,” Buckeye replied.
Blue Bell gazed in wonder and tried to think what it would be like to be free, like the birds, and fly wherever and whenever you liked. “I think it would be so exciting. Just think Buckeye, there would be nothing you couldn’t do and nowhere you couldn’t go if you were able to be like the birds.”
Buckeye looked at his friend and a shiver shook him. There was that look in his eyes, the one he got when an idea that really excited him came into his mind. “Now look Blue Bell,” he said firmly, “you can’t fly. You don’t have wings. You’re a bell and bells can’t fly. That’s all there is to it.”
Blue Bell sat back and rested himself on his thin elbows and continued to look up at the sky. Dreamily he closed his eyes. “I want to learn to fly,” he said softly.
Buckeye rolled his eyes. There was no stopping him now. “Blue Bell,” he said calmly. Just how do you intend to go about learning to fly?”
Blue Bell blinked. “I’m not sure yet. It will take a great deal of planning and thought. I shall need your help though.”
Buckeye could barely believe his ears. “Oh no,” he said shakily. “You’re not going to get me up there. I mean, it’s so high and if I fall back to the earth too hard then I might crack myself open,”
Blue Bell grinned. “Relax my good buddy. You can keep your feet firmly on the ground. All I want you to do is to help me to get up into the air.”
They sat together, each with their own thoughts. Blue Bell imagining himself whizzing though the air and dancing with the clouds; and Buckeye wishing and hoping that his friend would find something else to put his mind to, like climbing trees. That was fairly safe, so long as they climbed only short trees with lots of grass underneath to cushion them in case they did fall.
“A balloon!” Blue Bell said excitedly. “I could fly up into the air in a balloon.”
Buckeye sighed. This was going to be a long day.
“Come on, let’s go to the edge of the wood and see if we can find one that we can use,” he said jumping to his feet. “Come on Buckeye, get up and come and help me.”
Buckeye got to his feet and followed his friend who had already scurried off. Blue Bell was a good way in front but Buckeye wasn’t worried about losing him, Blue Bell’s clapper was rattling furiously and he hurried along, so finding him wouldn't be a problem. Yet Buckeye didn’t want to get too far behind, there was no telling what Blue Bell might get up to on his own. Beads of sweat glistened on his hard, brown outer shell as his little legs carried him along.
“Morning Blue Bell,” the flowers on the lily-pond called out as he ran past.
“Where are you going?” one called out to him.
“I’m going to learn to fly,” he called back, not wanting to stop.
The flowers looked at each other and shrugged their petals. “What does he want to fly for?” they asked each other. None had the answer, so they went back to sunning themselves in the morning sunlight.
As fast as Buckeye ran, he didn’t catch up to Blue Bell until he had reached the edge of the wood where people came to leave their unwanted household things. He gave a little shake of his head when he saw Blue Bell right in the middle tossing discarded items aside as he searched for a balloon.
“Hurry up Buckeye! The sooner I can find a balloon the sooner I get up with the clouds and birds.”
Buckeye knew it was pointless to argue so he set about the task of helping Blue Bell find a balloon.
“What are you two looking for?” They heard a voice ask.
Stopping for a moment and looking up they saw Driver Dan and Percy Poker Machine looking at them from under the trees. Percy’s wheels spun and then one-by-one they stopped on three cherries.
“We’re looking for a balloon,” Buckeye answered.
“What for?” Asked Driver Dan.
“Blue Bell wants to learn to fly. A silly idea if you ask me.”
They went back to the searching while Driver Dan spun Percy’s wheels for him. A few Blue-Birds came by and rested on the branches of the trees.
“What are you two digging for?” they asked.
“A balloon,” Blue Bell replied, not looking up. “I’m going to fly.”
“Oh really,” they all said, smiling to one another. One Blue-Bird put his wing over his beak and said to the one next to him softly, “I think we ought to stay around and watch this. It might be fun.”
The others nodded.
“You know,” said Percy-Poker-Machine. “a man came by yesterday and dropped off a box, just over there. It had some streamers hanging out of it. They might have been left over from a party. You never know, you might find a balloon in there.
Blue Bell looked up excitedly and followed Percy’s gaze. With wide, excited eyes he saw the box and scampered over to it. After just a few frantic moments he waved a yellow balloon in the air. “I’ve got one!” he shouted in triumph.
Meanwhile Biscuit-Bob and Puppet-Pete had arrived at the edge of the wood. “What’s going on here?” Bob asked.
Blue Bell’s going to fly,” the Blue-Birds chorused.
“We might as well sit down and enjoy the show,” Pete said. “This could be very interesting.”
“String,” Blue Bell shouted out. “I need string.”
“I’ve got some,” Puppet Pete called back. “I always keep some handy in case one of my own strings break.”
“We need to inflate it first,” said Blue Bell, hardly able to contain his joy.
Buckeye peered into the box. “You’re in luck. Whoever dropped off this box left a tank of helium gas inside. There might be enough left to blow it up.”
While Buckeye held the balloon over the nozzle, Blue Bell opened the valve. Straight away they heard a hiss and the Yellow balloon began to grow in size.
“Yippee! It’s working,” shouted out Blue Bell with more excitement than he had ever felt before.
When he thought it was big enough he closed the valve and running over to Puppet-Pete took the string that he held out for him and scampered back to Buckeye who was still holding the balloon. Carefully he tied the string around the balloon.
“All ready,” he announced proudly. “Now, when I give the word,” he said to Buckeye, “I want you to pull if off the valve and stand back,” he said to Buckeye seriously.
“Don’t worry about that,” Buckeye answered quickly. “I don’t want to fly up into the air.”
He looked at the knot that Blue Bell had tied. “Are you sure that is tight enough?” he asked looking worried.
“Yes, yes, it’ll be fine.” Blue Bell wasn’t concerned with such things, all he wanted was to fly up into the sky and be like Saffron, the fairy and Fruit-Bat-Ray and all the Blue-Birds who were watching closely. “Jack Frost will be impressed,” he said dreamily. “I can barely wait for him to see me fly.”
He held on tightly to the string and said to Buckeye, “Now Buckeye, pull it off of the valve now and then stand well back and watch me soar into the air.”
Buckeye did as he was asked but instead of Blue Bell rising quickly, he sort of floated up rather slowly. Yet the sensation to Blue Bell was that he was flying, the ground moving away from him. As he reached the top of the trees, the string suddenly came loose and gas inside began to rush out with a loud hissing sound. Blue Bell looked horrified. He grabbed the balloon to where the string had been tied but his grip was not strong enough to stop the gas from escaping. Blue Bell found himself fizzing through the air at great speed and at odd angles as the gas rushed loudly out of the balloon. He was giddy from the wild spins that he was doing as he clutched frantically to the balloon. Up and down he went and round and round, the balloon hissing loudly as the gas escaped.
“Whooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaah, yelled Blue Bell
Everyone below watched as Blue Bell flew around in tight, erratic circles.
The Blue-Birds were very impressed. “Nice acrobatics,” they all agreed, “though lacking a little in style.”
“Don’t be too harsh,” Puppet-Pete said kindly, “it is after all his first time.”
“True, true,” they agreed again, nodding their little heads.
As the gas expelled from the balloon Blue Bell found himself getting closer and closer to the ground until finally he made a safe but undignified landing on the grass close by, his little legs waggling as he rested in the dewy grass. When he got up, his head spinning, everyone clapped.
“Well done,” they all shouted.
The Blue-birds tittered and laughed. “That was the best show we’ve seen in a long while,” one said.
“Well, fill it up again Blue Bell,” another called out, “and try a few loops this time, bigger ones.”
Blue Bell was not impressed. He loved the thrill of flight but it was all too short and not at all what he wanted. “Thanks for your support,” he said meekly to his friends. He looked with embarrassment at the Blue-Birds. He sat on the grass and thought hard. He had to find another way to get up in the air and this time stay there. All his friends and the Blue-Birds too watched and waited. They had the feeling that this was not going to be the end of the performance. Suddenly he looked up and strode purposefully back to the trash tip and began searching again. After several minutes he found what he was looking for.
“This ought to do it this time,” he announced, feeling a little more confident. In his had he had found a small model airplane.
Buckeye had hoped that Blue Bell would want to give up after his first failed attempt but he seemed more determined than ever. Blue Bell searched some more and this time he emerged with a length of elastic.
The Blue-Birds all tilted their heads this way and that as they watched.
Blue Bell pushed a short stick into the ground and then walking, what seemed to the others to be an awful long way did the same thing again. He then tied a piece of string to the tail of the model plane to make a loop and then he tied one end of the elastic to the nose of the plane and the other to the stick he had placed into the ground. When he was done he then picked up the plane and began to walk towards the first stick that he had pushed into the earth. At first he was walking quickly but as he got further and further away and the elastic stretched more and more, his steps grew slower, until he had almost stopped. Looking up he saw he was still a little way from the peg. Beads of perspiration trickled down his face as he strained. Buckeye could bear to stand by no longer and he rushed forward to help his friend. With Buckeye’s extra strength the two of them were able to pulled the model plane to the stick where Blue Bell hooked the loop he had made over the stick.
Blue Bell stood up and looked, first at the plane and then the elastic that he had stretched between the two sticks and attached to the model.
“I think I’m ready to try again,” he said to Buckeye.
Buckeye never said anything but he was proud that Blue Bell was his friend and he didn’t want any harm to come to him. Although he wasn’t brave enough himself, he admired Blue Bell for wanting to try something different “Tell me what to do so that I can help.”
“I’m going to sit on the plane and when I say now, you release the loop from the stick there,” he said pointing.
Buckeye stood behind the rear as Blue Bell got onto the model airplane. He put his little feet onto the wings and leaning forward tightly gripped tightly the leading edges of the wings with his hands.
“Okay, NOW!” he called out loudly.
Buckeye stooped forwards and pulled the string loop loose from the stick.
Blue Bell felt a surge of power as he was catapulted forwards.
Everyone looked on amazed and surprised at the speed Blue Bell was traveling. The small model plane was just inches above the grass, when suddenly, as it reached the stick at the other end it flew upwards but surged straight towards the trees. Blue Bell was ecstatic and alarmed almost at the same time as he first shot up into the air and then swerved towards the waiting trees.
Everyone below cheered and clapped as Blue Bell soared skywards and then they gasped as they watched the model airplane veer towards the woods.
Blue Bell was helpless as he crashed into the leaves and the branches. The model broke into a thousand pieces and Blue Bell bounced and thumped his way back down to the ground. When he hit the ground, his eyes spinning, Puppet- Pete, Buckeye and Biscuit Bob all came running over to him and helped him to his feet.
“Are you alright Blue Bell,” they all asked.
Brushing himself down he assured them that he was unhurt.
“Blue Bell,” said Buckeye sadly, not wanting to see his best friend hurt himself, “give up this crazy idea of trying to fly, you might seriously injure yourself.”
Meanwhile Jack Frost, Saffron the fairy and Fruit-Bat-Ray had all arrived at the clearing and they had watched at Blue Bell’s second failed attempt at flying.
Jack smiled kindly and he walked up to Blue Bell and picking him up, cleaned him thoroughly. “Now Blue Bell,” said Jack softly, “it’s a brave thing that you are trying to do but you do really have to be very careful. Like Buckeye said, you could seriously hurt yourself. You look at the Blue-Birds and at saffron and Fruit-Bat-Ray, they are all meant to fly, they have wings.” He smiled as he looked at Blue Bell’s sad little face. “But you don’t have wings, do you?’
Blue Bells gaze dropped and a tear fell from one of his eyes and ran down his cheek. “I so wanted to be able to fly. I wanted to be like the birds and like Ray and Saffron but all I did was make myself look silly.
Jack’s smile grew wider. “No, they don’t think you’re silly at all. They all think you are very brave. Everyone admires you for trying but perhaps you tried too hard at the most dangerous things.” Jack paused for a moment. “I have an idea.”
He placed Blue Bell gently down on the ground and went to the tip and gathered up what looked like an old silk scarf. Next he went over to Puppet-Pete and took some string from him. The Jack knelt on the ground and began to tie pieces of string to the edges and corners of the scarf. All watched quietly as Jack worked. When he had finished he beckoned Blue Bell over and tied all the ends of the strings to the loop on top of Blue Bell’s head. Next he rolled the scarf into a tight ball and handed it to Blue Bell.
“Now, hold on tightly to this until I give the word then throw it up and over your head.”
Blue Bell looked at the ball Jack had held out to him and then back at Jack himself then he took the rolled up scarf. “What is it Jack?” he asked.
“I’ve made you something called a parachute.”
Jack then went over to Fruit-Bat-Ray and whispered something to him. Ray nodded and flapping his wings, flew over to Blue Bell. Ray looked at Jack who nodded. Ray flew into the air and with his feet grabbed a-hold of Blue Bell’s loop and picked him up. Fruit-Bat-Ray easily carried Blue Bell up into the air. Higher and higher they went. Blue bell looked down still tightly clutching the scarf. Everyone looked so small and they were getting smaller as Ray flew higher.
“Here you go Blue Bell,” Ray called out and he released Blue Bell loop.
From soaring upwards one moment, Blue Bell suddenly found himself falling back towards the ground very fast indeed.
“Now Blue Bell,” he heard Jack’s voice shout out from below.
Blue Bell threw the rolled up silk scarf as hard as he could straight up. As he fell the rolled up scarf unrolled itself and filled with air. Gently and quietly Blue Bell found himself floating towards the ground, very slowly. His sadness changed to happiness as first Jack and Saffron flew around him as he floated down and then all the Blue-Birds swooped and wheeled around him, all of them shouting out, “Look at Blue Bell, he’s really flying. Well done Blue Bell.”
Blue Bell was very happy when he landed softly on the ground. It was wonderful! Excitedly he jumped up and down with obvious joy. He quickly rolled the silk scarf back up into a ball and asked Fruit-Bat-ray to take him upwards again, which he did. The effect of flying was just as exciting as the first time.
All afternoon Blue Bell kept floating down to the ground, jumping up and down with happiness. All his friends did a little dance each time he landed safely and all the Blue-Birds flapped their wings and cheered.
Everyone in the wood had a great time the day that Blue Bell learned to fly.

The End