Roger visits the garden

Spring had cast its charm upon the forest and had made it brighter than ever. Magda, the megapode peeked out of her nest to take in the  beautiful surroundings and she could feel an undeniable excitement in her feathers. 

She set off humming a cheery tune as she looked forward to spending the day working in the vegetable garden. “ Good Morning , Mrs Hen “, said Magda as she passed through the little wooden gate and the old Hen smiled warmly at the greeting. Suddenly, they saw what looked like a mini dust storm at the southern end of the garden and a loud voice called out “ Delivery! Hot cross buns ! Just the way you like it.” 

“ Oh, that must be the roadrunner . Magda dear, can you please collect the buns for me? They will go nicely with my evening tea” said Mrs Hen.

“Sure thing, Mrs Hen.” replied Magda as she was quite used to collecting the delivery and having the occasional chat with the lively Roadrunner. “ How are you on this fine day, Roger? “ she asked.“ With the wind in my hair, I can go anywhere!” proclaimed Roger the roadrunner , showing off his sparkling smile. Magda laughed heartily as she chatted with the energetic bird and made plans to meet in the evening at their local haunt, the peacock’s tea shop.“Look at you Magda, making plans with friends and having your very own hang out place”, thought the Megapode happily .

In the evening , Magda and her trusted companion Fred, the hummingbird , made their way to the tea shop. Roger the roadrunner had already arrived and was talking jovially with his friends. “ Hey Magda , have you heard about the garden at the top of the hill?” asked the Robin. “ Oh yes of course! “ said Magda, her eyes shining with delight as she recalled the wonderful taste of the water in the sparkling pond in the garden. “Fred and I had gone there last weekend. The beauty of the place is just unforgettable.”

“ It requires some pretty high flying over a long distance to reach the garden. It is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea”, said the pigeon winking at the roadrunner.  As they started laughing Magda noticed that Roger was

looking uncomfortable.“Why don’t we go somewhere quieter?, she suggested ,leading Fred and Roger away from the noisy table.

“ Are you okay Roger?” , asked Fred . “ Yeah I am fine, it is just that what the pigeon said was true. I would never be able to see the garden as my wings are not as strong as my legs”, said Roger.  “ Looks like someone needs a strong cup of tea” suggested Fred as he nodded to Magda.“ I don’t understand, I already have a cup of tea here”, said Roger. Magda smiled at him as she said” We would like to take you to visit someone. It would be good for you , I promise.”

“ Ah Magda, how are you little one ? I see you have brought a new friend. Come in , Come in”, greeted the old owl warmly. As they sat sipping their hot cups of tea, the owl listened patiently while Magda narrated the entire incident . The owl looked thoughtfully at Roger and asked him” What do you consider to be your strength Roger?”. “ Running of course”, said the roadrunner , smiling broadly.  “ There is wind in my hair, Mr Owl. Running is a part of me, it is who I am.”

  “ There you go ! Once we know our strengths, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. Is there anyway you can combine both running and flying to reach your destination?” asked the owl.

Roger started thinking hard and suddenly he gave an excited shout. “ There is another hill from where I can fly to the garden. It is very high and the flying distance is pretty short from the hilltop to the garden." “ Isn’t that hill too far from here? How will you go all the way from here , visit the garden and get back before nightfall? “, asked Fred. “That is not an issue at all. I will be back before you know it” , said Roger. Magda was happy to see that the sparkle had returned to his eyes once more.

And true to his word Roger was back the next evening with more energy than ever and would not stop talking about the magical garden.“ You see, little one” said the owl to the megapode, “ Nothing is ever impossible in life if we stop looking at others and start getting to know more about ourselves.”