For the next several days, Katie was full of excitement. After finishing her hot cocoa, she set out to look for a School of Magic almost every day. Katie promised to herself that she would become a magician – the most skilled of all ladybugs ever! She even borrowed Sir Woodpecker’s top hat and shiny black cape for the occasion. The kind old bird did wonder a bit what a ladybug would want to do with a jet black outfit, but he didn’t press the issue. After all, Katie had promised to take good care of the items, so why not lend them to such a close friend?
The aspiring little magician spent all day searching the meadow. A School of Magic, however, was nowhere to be found.
“School of Magic? And what exactly would that be?” the sparrows wondered. “Is that why you are wearing that huge black cape, looking like a Halloween scarecrow?” they laughed out loud.
Katie grew tired of their teasing.
“I WILL be a magician, just wait and see!” she declared. “And you, nasty sparrows, better watch your words, because this is Sir Woodpecker’s Sunday best! And if you won’t stop, I’ll turn you all into red-eyed rabbits munching on grass, when I’ll become a Doctor of Magic!” she continued, turning on her heel and walking out in a huff. But it was a good while before the mocking laughter of the birds faded in the distance.
“Could it be that there’s no School of Magic anywhere in the Great Meadow?” Katie wondered, beginning to lose hope. Slowly, tears appeared in her eyes.
Then, all of a sudden, she spotted a busy spider spinning its web.
Katie’s face lit up. “I’ve got it! Even if I can’t learn any magic tricks here, I can still become a tightrope walker! After all, spiders don’t go to school either, but they can still balance themselves on their webs, just like tightrope walkers!”
She quickly turned around and headed back to her little home. Flying was a bit of a challenge: Sir Woodpecker’s heavy dark cape really weighed her down.
“Look, a bat in the daylight!” the Field Mouse family marveled as she flew over them.
As soon as Katie got home, she began to search the large old drawers of her dresser. When she found a decent length of rope, Katie tied two kitchen chairs together with their backs facing each other. Then, she climbed up, extended her right leg onto the rope, and took a brave step forward.
The rope moved and the ladybug lost her balance. Katie fell to the floor with a loud thud. Crash! The chair fell on top of her as well.
“Ouch!!”
The wannabe tightrope walker’s head was spinning, and sharp pain shot through her leg. The more she tried to move, the more her ankle hurt. Finally, Katie just stayed on the floor, moaning.
When the sparrows heard her cries, they stopped laughing and quickly gathered around to see what happened to the ladybug. Once they’ve realized that it was a serious situation, they hastened off for Doctor Owl. The kind doctor immediately left his singing lesson at Martha Meadow Lark’s, grabbed his bag and hurried straight to Katie.
“Looks like a broken leg, for sure”, said the doctor, after examining the ladybug. “I’ll put it in a cast for six weeks. That way, your ankle can heal properly. No more tightrope walking from this on, young lady!” the doctor added sternly. “I will also prescribe you some Noscratchine drops for the itching.”
Enveloped in its new plaster boot, poor Katie’s leg throbbed with pain. All she could do was whimper.
She did promise to herself, however, that her circus performing days were over for sure – although she wasn’t about to admit this to anyone in the world.