Cowboy Cockatoo
Christmas
By Linda Middleton
Illustrated by Sue Schild
Ring… Ring… “Hello, is that
you Rockie? It’s Angel the Jenday… Huh, what do you mean you never heard of me?
I am Cowboy Dallas’ bigger, older, smarter brother… I have Snowey on the other
line, let me conference him in… Snowey you there?… OK. Now listen up Rockie, we
just got a phone call from our North Pole informant that Santa Claus’ sleigh is stuck
in a snow bank and Santa can’t get it out… How do I know how he got it
stuck… You are so right Rockie, this could be very serious for all the children and
birds in the world if he is not able to get his sleigh out by tomorrow night… No, you
can’t speak to Cowboy Dallas, he don’t talk plain anyways. Here is the
plan, Cowboy Dallas is out arranging transportation for a trip to the North Pole. He is
going to find Santa Claus’ sleigh and figure out a way to free it from being stuck
and he wants you to go with him… You will! That’s super! He will be by to pick
you up soon… Bye Snowey Bye Rockie.” click.
Cowboy Dallas packs a nice two day supply
of berries, popcorn and bird
cookies and heads down the trail to save Santa Claus. Arriving at
Snowey’s house, he sees a lovely Christmas Tree in the window and Snoweyis waving and
flapping and hanging off that tree. KER PlOP. Snowey has broken the Christmas Tree in
half. Snowey grabs his hat and mittens and races out the front door to join Dallas. As
fast as they can go, they peddle their tricycles to Rockie’s house and find him fast
asleep on the porch in his happy hut. “Get up,” says Snowey sweetly.
Rockie leaps to his feet exclaiming, “Come on Cowboy Cockatoos, we got to help
Santa or we won’t get any presents this year.”
Away they go headed to the north pole.
Ring… Ring… “Cowboy Dallas,
keep your cell phone turned on. I am gonna tell Mom if you don’t keep it turned
on… It’s me, Angel the Jenday. Are you to the North Pole yet?… You’re
what… stopping to eat nutriberries in the middle of the day?… You guys sure eat
a lot… yes, I know, Snowey was hungry… Well listen up Cowboy Dallas, When you
get to Santa’s house, tell him I sent you… that’s right, Angel the Jenday
sent you… You just do it, Buster, or I will raid your cage before you get home, and I
will tear those strings off your coconut toy too…
OK. Bye Dallas.” click
The brave Cowboy Cockatoos continued peddling as fast as they could and finally they saw a
sign that said, “Santa’s Bar and Grill.” They
determined they had not yet made it to the North Pole, but ordered a
grilled cheese sandwich and a warm cup of tea to brace them against the
winter chill outside. The snow was blowing and the wind was howling and
still they peddled closer and closer to Santa’s.
“Hey Cowboy Dudes,” shouted a
reindeer from high on top a snow drift. “Yo Rudolph!” they all three shouted in
reply. Happy Cockatoo Dance followed. Rudolph was amazed as he had never seen feathers and
fluff in such a beautiful display before. Snowey was most playful and had only brought his
mittens and earmuffs so he got pretty wet. Rudolph insisted they hurry on to Santa’s
house so Snowey could get warm and dry. The elves brought sleds and down the steep incline
they all raced to Santa’s house.
Along the path there were vats and vats of
powdered sugar colored in lovely shades of green, red, yellow, orange and purple.
“Grapes! My
favorite!” yelled Snowey when he saw the purple powdered sugar. Before
anyone could stop him, Snowey had dived into the purple powdered sugar. Emerging Rudolph,
Dallas and Rockie started laughing and cackling cause Snowey had turned all purple from
the coloring.
Ring… Ring… “Hello Santa,
is that you?… It’s me, Angel the Jenday… That’s right, down in Texas.
Are my brother and his buddies there yet?… Well, you can’t miss them, 2 of them
are the oddest color of pink you ever saw… Not their fingernails, Santa, all over
their bodies they are shocking pink...Nice boys, really, and good all year just like
me… What do you mean you are not sure about me… I sent those Cowboy Cockatoos to
save Christmas this year… Now that’s better, Santa,… Anyway, think nothing
of it… They should be there very soon now… See you tomorrow night, Santa.
Bye.”
Rudolph bellowed loudly at the edge of a clearing. A cottage appeared
with a large toy factory attached. Mrs. Claus stuck her head out the door
and called for Santa to come see. Santa appeared and Snowey leaped to his shoulder, Rockie
gave Santa a big kiss and Dallas sat sweetly on Mrs.
Claus’ hand repeating the word “cookie” over and over.
Santa said, “Hello Snowey, Rockie and Dallas, you must be the Cowboy
Cockatoos that your boss, Angel the Jenday, sent to rescue my sleigh.”
With his eyes twinkling, Santa started to bellow “Ho Ho Ho” and Dallas
joined with him in laughter at the thought of that little conure having
the nerve to phone Santa and tell him that he sent them. But in a way,
Angel did send him, Dallas decided.
After eating oatmeal raisin cookies warm
from the oven, Snowey took a
bath, and Dallas and Rockie left the kitchen to find Santa’s records. “Oh
No,” exclaimed Dallas when he found Linda’s Birds list, “Vanilla and
Sabrina’s names are missing.” Rockie ran to Santa’s computer, studied the
update program, and announced that he would have it reprogrammed to accept changes in no
time. Rockie went to work fixing the computer with a piece of sharp wood he chewed from a
stick all by himself and with a half a
walnut. Pretty soon, the Notice of Vanilla and Sabrina’s new address
started printing out. Dallas raced to the sled where all the toys were
packed to the sky. “Snowey, Rockie, come and look at all these toys!”
Dallas told them. “No wonder Santa’s reindeer can’t get the sled out of
the snow, it must weigh 14 tons,” observed Snowey, who was no longer
purple from his frolics in the snow. “There is Sabrina’s package of toys
over there,” said Rockie. Dallas got a black marker and wrote in
Sabrina’s new address on her toys. “But, But,” stammered Dallas,
“there
are no toys for little Vanilla since her birth record got lost to Santa.”
A little elf heard him and said, “Come on Cockatoo Cowboys, we have work to do.”
At the toyshop Santa was already hard at
work making Vanilla some toys for Christmas. “Rockie, great job fixing my computer
and I see I have some more bird toys to make,” said Santa. Snowey grabbed some tools
and started carving a wooden horse for Vanilla to ride, and Dallas and Rockie sawed and
chewed a nice coach to match the horse from a big block of wood. After they finished,
Snowey took the horse for a test ride and Dallas and Rockie relaxed in the coach.
Ring… Ring… “Hello, Cowboy
Dallas, are you there? It’s me Angel the
Jenday calling… What cha doin?… You’re resting again… How can you save
Christmas all this resting you are doing… What! No toys for Vanilla… Well you
better make some or Mom will be real mad at you… Have you figured out how to save
Christmas yet?… You mean you have been so busy you forgot to figure it out…
Well, get in there and figure something out… Yeah, right, Bye!” click
The elves helped make toys and helped the
Cowboy Cockatoos wrap all the gifts they made for Vanilla. Together they tagged them and
piled them on the sleigh. Dallas walked around the sleigh several times and you could see
him thinking so hard about how to get that sleigh out of the snow and into the sky. He
bent down and chewed the harness in a few places, stepped back, admired his work, and
said, “That should do it.”
After a few more cookies in Mrs. Claus’ kitchen, it was time for Santa to
leave to deliver all the toys. Dallas motioned for Snowey and Rockie to
come with him and they went outside to the sleigh. Dallas explained his
idea and the Cowboy Cockatoos seemed in agreement as to the plan to lift
out the sleigh and get Santa on his way this Christmas Eve. The reindeer came out one by
one and the elves hitched up their harnesses. Santa came
out dressed splendidly in his red and white suit and hat. “Hope you
Cowboys know what you are doing,” said Santa. “Relax, Santa, we will have you
out of here in a jiffy,” said Rockie. Snowey nodded his pretty white head in
agreement. Once Santa was settled in the sleigh, the reindeer began pawing the earth. The
Cowboy Cockatoos checked the sleigh one last time and went in front of the reindeer.
Slipping on their harness holders that Dallas had chewed out for them, they heard Santa
say, “Cowboys, it just might work!”
"On the count of three,” said
Dallas and he said one and the Cowboys
raised their crests in unison, and he said two and the Cowboys raised
their beautiful wings full spread, and three and the reindeer made a might leap while the
Cockatoos flapped one huge downward stroke. Up, up, lifted the sleigh being led by the
Cockatoo Cowboys. “Thank you, great job" yelled Santa. As the sleigh headed for
Russia, Dallas started thinking about Mom. He knew she would make him some nice warm
cereal when he got home. “Anyone ready to go home?” Dallas asked. “I am
ready,” said Rockie, thinking he could just get there before his Mom got home from
work. “Me, too!” shouted Snowey thinking that he could get there in time to help
his Mom frame a new picture she had painted. The Cockatoo Cowboys turned their beaks and
then their bodies in the direction of home and arrived safely. They had saved Christmas.
On Christmas morning the Cowboy Cockatoos were happy with excitement. They found in
each of their stockings hung by the chimney with care were a little toy sleigh with 8 tiny
reindeer.
A note tucked inside said with pride,
“To Dallas, To Rockie, To Snowey, all three:
You are good birds, as good as can be.”
© Linda Middleton, Sue
Schild.
For more
information about the Cockatoo Cowboys, join the good folks at COCKATOOS@yahoogroups.com
For more information about website design, contact
Sue
Schild
~~The End~~