Linda Lau: There was once a boy named Mark.
Rae Mansfield: Mark lived by the ocean.
Lee Armstrong: His favorite thing to do was to go down by the sea and watch the seagulls.
Linda Lau: That day when he went out there was a flock of hundreds of seagulls.
Rae Mansfield: He had a tuna fish sandwich in his pocket.
Lee Armstrong: He brought the tuna fish sandwich out and he looked at the flock, he looked at his sandwich and he broke off a small piece of bread.
Linda Lau: The seagulls came up to the bread very quickly.
Rae Mansfield: They didn’t stop with just a small piece of bread, they ate the entire sandwich and suddenly he was surrounded by hundreds of seagulls.
Lee Armstrong: Because the seagulls were so polite and after they had licked their beaks clean they thanked Mark.
Linda Lau: And Mark said, You’re welcome.”
Rae Mansfield: They asked if he would come back again later with more food.
Lee Armstrong: So the very next day Mark came back with two sandwiches.
Linda Lau: He took one out of his pocket and offered it to the seagulls.
Rae Mansfield: The seagulls had never had peanut butter and jelly before and it was a new experience for them.
Lee Armstrong: They were so delighted that they wanted to give him a gift.
Linda Lau: The gift they gave him was a baby bird.
Rae Mansfield: Mark held the baby bird in his hand and said,”I don’t think I’m the best mother for baby bird but I’ll try.”
Lee Armstrong: He looked at the bird trying to figure out what to name him.
Linda Lau: He looked into the bird’s eye and suddenly it said, “Mew.”
Rae Mansfield: The bird thought,”I’m a cat.”
Lee Armstrong: And Mark thought, “If it’s a cat I should pat it.”
Linda Lau: And so Mark did.
Rae Mansfield: And cat bird was happy.
Photo Credit: Jola Fallach, “Seagull Taking Off,” 2017