Bob's Story

My name is Bob, Bob White. I am a quail. A few days ago I lived in a shell. I have a mother and father, bothers and sisters. Mom and Dad have tassels on top of their heads. I will have one too when I get older. Now I’m just a ball of fuzzy brown and white feathers. Today we are going for a walk. Father leads the way, then mother and we all follow in a single line behind them. Look, Dad sees something. See how he stretches his neck and bobs his top not. Now he is flying to perch on the top of the fence. Mother quickly runs to the shelter of the thorn bush and we follow behind. From deep within the branches of our bush I can see Tom the cat silently stalking up to where we hide. Mother tells us to curl up together and stay until she returns. Then she dashes out where Tom can see her. She is playing a game with Tom. She holds her wing out on the ground like it is broken and hops away. Tom sneaks up trying to pounce on her but just as he gets ready to jump she flies a little further away. All this time Papa is scolding Tom for disturbing his family. Tom pays no attention as he is still trying to catch Mama. Soon he tires of playing this game and finds a shady spot to curl up and go to sleep. I am getting hungry. Mama scolds Tom for a long time then she comes back to get us. Now I am very hungry. We all scurry off in our line like children following the teacher. I would like to curl up for a nap myself. I was too frightened by Tom’s game to sleep.