Chapter 3

Maggie was collecting Leonard’s brush and currycomb when she heard squealing and the rustling of straw in the pigs’ stall. She opened the top door just a crack so she could see inside. Most of the piglets were scurrying around, crying for their mother and beating their little wings that had grown feathers only a few days before. Maggie couldn’t help but smile when she saw some take tiny hops and rise a few centimetres into the air.

‘How are the babies doing?’ Bob asked as he joined her at the stall door.

‘I think they’re getting ready to fly,’ said Maggie.

Bob smiled. ‘Perfect! We can give them their first lesson while their mother is outside.’

‘Shouldn’t their mother teach them?’ Maggie asked.

‘She’ll try, but I’ve found that it’s better for the piglets if they know how to fly before her lessons start,’ said Bob. ‘Mother flying pigs are very rough when they teach their babies. They chase them, nipping at their heels until the babies take off. Sometimes they step on the ones that can’t fly yet. Piglets that are slow at learning to fly often get badly injured. I try to give them a head start, if I can. Stay here. I’ll be right back. I have to get the blanket.’

‘Why do you need a blanket?’ Maggie asked.

‘You’ll see,’ Bob called as he left the stable.

Maggie was still waiting for Bob when her friend Stella and Stella’s goose, Eglantine, walked in. After shutting the goose in an empty stall, Stella joined Maggie.

‘Where’s Carmelita?’ Stella asked, looking into the pigs’ stall.

‘Outside stretching her wings,’ Maggie told her.

‘Oh, good!’ Bob said when he saw Stella. ‘We could give the lesson with two people, but it will work even better with three. Here, you two hold the blanket and I’ll toss the piglets. The babies that can fly will take off. You’ll hold the blanket to catch the ones that can’t.’

‘Is this safe?’ asked Stella.

‘I haven’t lost a piglet yet!’ Bob replied. ‘You girls stand over there and use both hands to hold the blanket. That’s it! Now wait until I catch a piglet. All right. Here goes!’

Maggie and Stella braced their legs while Bob tossed a piglet at the blanket. Maggie expected to have to catch it, but to her surprise the little pig started beating its wings as soon as Bob let it go. It flew off, landing halfway across the stall.

‘That was amazing!’ Stella cried as Maggie laughed in delight.

‘Get ready! Here comes the next one,’ warned Bob.

The next baby pig flew as well, making it all the way across the stall. A few of the piglets were able to make a circuit around the girls. Only two didn’t flap their wings and landed in the blanket.

‘That was so much fun!’ exclaimed Stella. ‘Can we do it again tomorrow?’

‘If the weather is good and I’m able to let Carmelita out,’ said Bob. ‘Once all the babies can fly, it won’t be long before we release mother and babies into the forest.’

‘Speaking of releasing animals into the forest,’ said Leonard, ‘I’d love to take someone for a ride.’

‘I need to get home,’ said Stella. ‘My mother is baking a cake for my little brother’s birthday and I promised I’d help.’

‘And Nora wants me to fix the front door. The latch isn’t working properly,’ Bob told them.

‘Then I guess I’m your volunteer,’ Maggie told Leonard. ‘It should be fun! It’s a beautiful day out.’

‘And I know just where I want to go,’ the horse told her. ‘I haven’t visited the waterfall in a very long time.’