Oscar the Osprey: The Bird with a Conundrum
48
Oscar the Osprey: The Bird with a Conundrum
48Paperback
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781728301129 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 03/06/2019 |
| Pages: | 48 |
| Sales rank: | 1,174,383 |
| Product dimensions: | 8.25(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.10(d) |
| Age Range: | 6 - 8 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
APRIL
O scar's outstretched wings caught the updraft of the thermal, lifting him higher and higher with the slightest of effort. Feeling such serenity above the lake was exhilarating. Before he found a way to overcome, if not defeat, his fear of heights, he couldn't fly this high without losing consciousness and falling uncontrollably to the ground. He wondered why he had never been injured in those falls, but he knew he had been lucky. And he was grateful beyond his wildest dreams.
He rose higher and higher, not that he saw anything of the grand view below. He was squinting so he could maintain his heading and stay aloft. He knew if he opened his eyes wide, he would see he was so high that he would again be enveloped by his acrophobia and collapse to earth. He did not want that to happen because he was no longer an outcast. He was viewed as something special. He was flying, and his natural beauty was apparent to all, including, the most important, his family. He was ecstatic with excitement.
From below he heard his sister yell out to Mom, "Oscar can really fly. He's awesome!" He could tell Mom and everyone else were carefully watching his every turn.
The sun shone brilliantly in the spring sky over the lake. The fields and mountains were coming alive with all kind of animals and plants returning to life after another long, cold winter. The days were getting warmer, and the sun was lit up in a glorious yellow glow. The lake was teeming with fish, and the older ospreys were thriving and thinking about raising new offspring.
The osprey families that chose by lot the letter O for their newborns' names quickly began choosing Oscar as a favorite name. This was done so often that the elders had to step in and limit the number of Oscar names that were given. The elders faced a real maelstrom but held their ground, to the dismay of many mother ospreys.
"They can't all be called Oscar," said the head elder in a council meeting that Oscar was invited to, "or we would become awash in Oscars and be continually confused about who did it." He didn't say what "it" was, but it sounded serious to Oscar. The edict was ultimately, if reluctantly, accepted.
Oscar was the new hero among them, and he heard his story being told by all. It was overheard by other animals in and around the lake. Oscar couldn't escape the attention about what he had done. No osprey had stayed through the winter at the lake before and lived. There had been instances when the old and frail were unable to fly south for the winter and remained at the lake. But sadly, they were never heard from again. Oscar was the first and only one to do so successfully. Or so they believed.
Oscar's conscience, however, reminded him that he had not really lived through the winter at the lake but left after the flock and was the first osprey back before the others returned. He had not told anyone about that. Because he had such insight about winter and what it was like there at the lake, the flock never pursued the issue; it remained his secret. And Oscar was satisfied to just answer the questions asked.
"Oscar, tell us about ice and snow," requested an inquisitive young osprey follower, not knowing anything about such things.
"The snow was deep, a brilliant white, and covered everything. The glare was blinding. The lake iced over very hard and kept me from getting to the fish in the lake. And it was so cold I shivered uncontrollably. It was a scary and dangerous place ... with wild, hungry timber wolves roaming around." Oscar twitched at the thought of how cold it had been and how close his call had been with the wolves.
Those listening sensed his reaction. "Is that really true?" one asked with a sigh. Oscar would react as only one who personally experienced the conditions could — with a sincere, cold shiver and a knowing nod. "Ooooh," they would coo. The young ospreys hung on his every word.
For Oscar, it was special that he had become an important member of the flock and the family, much to Mom's and Dad's delight. He was even honored by his sister, Oprah, and most of the time, his brother, Otto. Oscar liked being an osprey who was no longer the weird sibling that the other ospreys, especially the young ones, ridiculed and poked fun at.
His heart skipped a beat when he thought of the way that he was being treated. At an elders' council meeting, Oscar was toasted by the head elder as "a fine example of a young bird on the way up — no pun intended. Ha!" Even elders had a sense of humor, or so they thought. The elders rescinded any restrictions on his skim-fishing methods, which they previously believed would ruin the traditional diving techniques of the ospreys. When asked, Oscar patiently offered advice on his special fishing technique.
Oscar tried to maintain his old ways and avoid being overcome by the adulation. He still had his nest low on a tall tree. He mainly skim-fished, but by squinting, he was able to fly much higher than in the first year of his life. The real difference was that he could do what he wanted without being made fun of for being weird.
Life couldn't be better. Or so he thought.
CHAPTER 2MAY
The more Oscar was admired, the more he pondered the problem he faced. It was a conundrum that he couldn't resolve to his satisfaction. He didn't like allowing the deception about staying all winter at the lake. He was perplexed about what to do. He enjoyed the other ospreys and being asked all sorts of questions about the winter, especially by his brother, who couldn't seem to get enough of his stories.
But Oscar's heart was heavy with worry. Because there were no ospreys he could confide in, he sought advice from the other animals, some of whom he met previously. They all seemed to be quite surprised to see him again; they all assumed that he had perished last winter. They knew that the ospreys always migrated south to avoid the harsh winters. For good reason. The animals even confessed to Oscar that it would be a good idea if they could do the same. Oscar thought, A moose flying over the mountains ... that would be an interesting sight to see!
One spring day, Oscar crossed paths with the dark black bear he encountered last winter, when he asked about how to get a winter coat. The bear was very wide awake, unlike when Oscar talked to him before. Then he had been very groggy and on his way to his hibernation habitat.
The bear was interrupted by Oscar flying down on to the trail he was following. The bear recognized him immediately. "Hellooo, there! I remember you. You're Oscar the hero, aren't you? The one who survived the winter at the lake. I must say I thought you were a goner," he said, mildly impressed. Then he observed, "You seem down, Oscar."
"Yeah, it's me," Oscar mumbled. "But I'm no hero." Oscar explained what happened and asked if the bear had any ideas about how to cope with his quandary.
"Well, that you are struggling with this problem means you are trying to do the right thing. That's good. But no one except you really knows what happened, do they? And who does it harm? It would hurt you mostly if you let out the truth."
The bear wouldn't tell Oscar what to do. "We bears don't care much for ethical issues; they use up too much energy," he said and plodded off in search of berries or whatever else he could find to eat. He reflected as he trudged on. "Besides, I'm barely able to think when I'm hungry. And I'm famished. Lucky for you that I don't like to eat birds — they're so stringy."
Oscar, glad that birds weren't a preferred meal of the bear, was struck by the bear's comment, "No one except you really knows what happened." That's not a lie, is it, if I don't say anything? He thought. It might mean that he could let this slide and hope the dilemma would just quietly disappear. Then he remembered. The timber wolves know. They were the ones that chased him off his nest last winter, leading to his journey away from the lake. But who would believe the timber wolves? Maybe nothing will come of it, he mulled. For the moment, he accepted the notion that he should let sleeping wolves lie, hoping the problem would just fade away.
He couldn't have been more wrong.
CHAPTER 3JUNE
The summer had begun to settle into a pleasant spell for Oscar but not for Otto. It seemed to Otto that Oscar was becoming more of a hero every minute. He remembered he — Otto — had once been the leader of the young ospreys, but Oscar had taken his place. Now Otto was just a member of the pack, and the pack deferred to Oscar and paid little attention to him. Otto also wondered if even Mom and Dad preferred Oscar to him.
Recently, Otto overheard Mom and Dad talking about Oscar. "Oscar is a wonderful son. He may be the greatest osprey in the family ever," his dad exclaimed. "He's majestic and so warrior-like! I'm glad we gave him the warrior name Oscar." Otto saw Mom agree with a pleasing nod.
"Ugh." Otto cringed under his breath as he remembered that moment.
Otto couldn't help reminiscing about when he had been the leader of his peers. He was the first of them to catch a fish from the lake the way it was supposed to be done — screaming down from high above the lake, attacking the prey with outstretched talons, while exploding into a massive splash of water. He was the first to learn to reverse his outer toe to grasp prey with two toes in front and two in back to help hang on to slippery fish while in flight. He was proud to be doing things before the other first-year ospreys could and being praised for it.
He had been the exceptional newborn in the family. He was bigger and better than, he believed, his little brother, Oscar, and stood out as the head of his siblings. After all, Oprah was no competition for him. She was just a girl.
Mom and Dad had always marveled over Otto's natural abilities. "Otto learns so quickly," Dad said quietly to Mom after their offspring learned to fly. But Otto heard it and basked in their admiration, especially when he outshined such an underachieving brother as Oscar. Then all of a sudden, things were different. And he didn't like it.
Because Oscar had become the peer group leader, Otto wondered what he could do to regain his reputation. Then something happened that inspired hope in him as he gathered with other ospreys, who were talking about great unachievable feats that they aspired to accomplish.
"If I could, I would try to catch Kingfish in the lake. He is huge and getting on in years. He may be ready to be taken," one osprey proclaimed. But Otto knew that no osprey was about to attempt that. A giant, long-lived trout called Kingfish was certainly huge, and even though many experienced ospreys tried in the past, none were strong enough to land the great fish. Kingfish, for the most part, stayed in the deepest part of the lake and achieved a long life and had grown to immense size.
Otto began to think that with his skill and patience, he might be the one to catch the big fish, and with that, he would regain the admiration of the others and his parents. He could be even better than Oscar, who just stayed at the lake over winter but didn't really accomplish anything helpful to the flock.
"I'm going to do it make it happen. Kingfish will be mine!" Otto began spouting off to his other osprey friends, who recoiled at his boisterousness. But he was not bragging. In his mind, he meant to do it and began to prepare himself mentally for the task.
He went first to Oscar about his plan. "I'm going after Kingfish," Otto boasted. After Oscar asked why, Otto explained that he felt he was ready. But he didn't tell Oscar that it was because Oscar had become such an admired osprey. Otto wanted to be somebody again, and he was willing to take a chance to accomplish that goal and compete with Oscar's fame.
Oscar warned him not to try because Kingfish was so large that even a large osprey could have difficulty landing it. "The elders speak of an osprey drowning in an attempt to lift too large a catch!" Otto would hear nothing of the advice because he had to do something or remain a failure in his mind.
Oscar could not change Otto's decision. And once again, he began rethinking his position on whether to admit the truth. On the other hand, he thought, Maybe Otto can catch Kingfish, and we can both be heroes. But he didn't really believe that.
Oscar felt something bad was going to happen.
CHAPTER 4JULY
As the summer wore on, Otto searched almost continually for Kingfish. Every day, he soared high above the lake, seeking any unusual surface movements on the normally placid waters. Although there were many fish in the lake, he knew Kingfish would make the largest waves as he breached the surface and made his usual lazy rollover before descending back into the lake's dark depths.
Otto sighted Kingfish on several occasions. Kingfish was experienced and wise, Otto observed. He was getting careless, however, in his slow meandering on the surface because the fish was sure that he was too big for any of the ospreys to capture him. Otto believed he could take advantage of this behavior if he timed his assault just right. Otto knew it was a big chance because once he latched onto the fish, his success depended on being able to carry Kingfish out of the water.
Otto knew no osprey had tried catching Kingfish once it became so large. He remembered Oscar's warning that an osprey had drowned trying to catch too large a fish. After all, there were plenty of fish in the lake, so it really wasn't necessary to take risks to satisfy their hunger. Many of the younger ospreys continued to brag about being the one to someday catch Kingfish, but it was only talk. For Otto, however, it was all too real because he wanted to be a hero like Oscar.
Otto's patience was finally rewarded. One afternoon, from high in the sky, he spotted Kingfish just under the water's surface, swimming along tantalizingly slow, flipping its tail in slow motion, almost declaring, "I'm here. Come and get me if you can."
It spurred Otto to yell out, "Kingfish, I'm coming for you!"
Gracefully, Otto rose higher in the sky, slowly folded his wings back, pointed his beak down, and dived straight at Kingfish, his talons outstretched and ready to pounce. At the very last instant, Otto spread his wings to level his dive and reached out for Kingfish. Inside a gigantic splash, a frightful fight began for life.
I've got him, he thought as he dug his claws into Kingfish's torso. The startled fish lurched and jerked to get Otto off his back, only having Otto dig deeper, so deep that Otto faced the possibility that if he did not retrieve the fish and fly him out of the lake, he might be pulled underwater.
Otto immediately sensed the strength of the fish. It was going to be harder than he thought to capture him. Kingfish was dragging him down, no matter how hard Otto tried to flap his wings to become airborne. Using all his strength, he flapped his wings on the water's surface and tried with a supreme effort to fly. But it was no use. He was losing. He continued to sink. He tried to release his talons from Kingfish but couldn't because they were in so deep. All his frantic efforts were useless.
"Heeeelp!" Otto squalled. He kept fighting but began to accept his fate. "I can't get loose. I'm going down," he cried just as his head sank beneath the water.
"No, you're not!" Otto heard a scream from above, not knowing where or from whom it was coming.
Suddenly, Otto felt something grab his neck and hold his head above the water, where he gasped for air. He felt something grasp his talons, and with a sharp twist and a violent shake, wrenched loose his hold on Kingfish. Relieved, Kingfish dived for the depths. And the ospreys, flapping wildly — though weakly for Otto — rose out of the water and struggled for the shoreline where Otto was dropped, energy spent, and coughing up water lodged in his gullet.
As he recovered, Otto realized that it was Oscar that saved him from certain drowning. He looked around and realized that a host of ospreys had watched the entire melee. Even the first elder saw everything and alit next to the exhausted Otto with Oscar.
"Remarkable, Oscar," said the first elder. "That was as heroic a rescue effort as I've ever seen. You most certainly saved your brother." He paused, looking at Otto and realizing that he was recovering. "Who, by the way, was very unwise about attacking Kingfish." All the other ospreys cheered Oscar heartily.
Otto was mortified. He felt the other ospreys were ridiculing him with their cheers for Oscar. He slowly skulked away to be by himself. He failed in his effort to land Kingfish and thought he lost the respect of others. Oscar was an even bigger hero ... because of him.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Oscar the Osprey"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Edward Martin Polansky.
Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.