Billy's First Flight

Billy Sparrow was a little bird who lived in a small town. He had a brother called Horatio and a little sister, called Heloise. The three little sparrows were only a few weeks old. They lived in a corner of the roof of an old wooden house located right in the middle of the main city square.
Their little town was a beautiful place, happy and clean. There were many trees in the city square. Oak trees, aspen trees, maple trees and birch trees. With so many trees right in front of their home, mom and dad sparrow didn’t have to fly too far out in search of food for their three little birds. Billy and his brother and his sister were too young to catch the insects they needed to eat. They couldn't fly at all and mom and dad had to come and go from tree to tree all day long to bring them their food.
The three little sparrows had no feathers. But this was good because it was summer and their house was very hot, day and night.
Sleeping was one of their favorite activities and they slept till late every day. When they woke up mom and dad had already gone out to catch their breakfast.
Billy was the most active of the three little sparrows. Right after getting out of bed he would sit by the front porch of his little house and stay there for hours, looking at mom and dad flying from tree to tree, catching insects for their children. He also loved to look at the other birds that flew around the square.
Billy considered flight as the most wonderful thing in the world. He couldn’t wait for the time when he would start his training.
But it was too dangerous for a little bird with no feathers to sit like that for hours, at the edge of the roof of a tall house. It was especially dangerous because of Lucifer, the big black cat that lived across the square from his house. Lucifer was mean and extremely fast. If Billy weren’t careful he could fall to the ground and become cat food in a matter of seconds!
Father Sparrow kept warning him about that.
“Billy!” he would say. “You have to learn to stay inside! Move away from there right now and go sit in the living room with your brother and sister!”
“But dad…” Billy would always say. “If I sit in the living room I won’t be able to see you flying out there!”
Patiently, Mr. Sparrow always tried to change his son’s mind.
“I know, son. But if you fall you are going to hurt yourself and cry all day long.”
There was no use. Billy couldn’t resist and would come out to the porch and sit at the edge of the roof right after breakfast. He couldn’t wait for the day when he too would take the leap into thin air and fly like a bird.