Brady, the butterfly, looked up at the clouds. The
cream-colored rose he was perched on waved back and forth in the icy wind.
It was time to fly south. He needed to go to a place where it didn’t snow
or have cold temperatures. He took his mittens out and put them on his
little hands. He started shivering. "Brrrrrrrrrr. It’s cold!" he said.
Brady flapped his wings and flew into the air just as
some large fluffy snowflakes fell from the gray clouds. One hit him on the
face, nearly bending his antenna. Another fell on his wing. He knew he had
to hurry. "Ouch!" he cried out. He flapped, and flapped, and flapped. Soon
he was above the snow clouds and on his way south.
It didn’t take him long before he was tired. It was a
long flight. As soon as he was out of the storm area, he dropped to the
ground and landed on a bush. It still had its leaves on it and was covered
with small round red berries. He found some that had burst open and sipped
the juicy nectar out of them. "Delicious!" he said. As he was sipping
away, the wind started to blow from the north. "Time to go!" He flapped,
and flapped, and flapped, heading south.
He flew for a long time. The sun started setting. Brady
loved the colors of sunset. The sky was ablaze with crimson, carnation
pink, orange, and light violet. Rays erupted from the sinking sun, their
golden arms reaching out to him, beckoning him to fly into their grasp.
He decided to stop for the night. Looking down for a
flower patch, Brady spotted some yellow buttercups and landed on one. Its
petals were soft and velvety and smelled pretty. Brady fluttered from
flower to flower. He found a buttercup that was perfect for sleeping and
curled himself up inside and dozed off.
That night it rained. It poured down on the flowers.
Luckily the yellow petals were large enough to cover Brady. He didn’t get
wet. In the morning the flowers were covered with big drops of morning
dew. Brady took a sip then flew off. He flapped, and flapped, and flapped
until he was high in the sky, among the puffy white clouds.
As he was flying along, he saw a flock of ducks ahead.
They were in v formation. They were heading south, just like he was. Later
on that day he saw a flock of geese. They too were flying south. That
evening, tired and hungry, Brady started looking for a flower to sleep in.
He wasn’t in the cold weather any longer. It was rather nice where he was.
There were a lot of flowers growing, asters, zinnias, morning glories and
poppies. Brady loved poppies. He flew into the poppy field and landed. He
stood on one of the large red petals. He looked up into the sky. It didn’t
look like it would rain that night. He drank some nectar, curled up inside
the poppy and went to sleep.
As the sun rose, a loud chirping awakened Brady. He
opened his eyes. Hovering above the poppy was a sparrow. It opened its
beak and tried to eat Brady. Quickly he fluttered under the poppy petal
and hid. The sparrow looked all around for him. After a while, it left.
Brady flapped, and flapped, and flapped his wings and flew up into the
sky.
He flew all day long, not even stopping for a drink. He
was so tired. As the afternoon sun began to go down, Brady arrived at his
destination. He was here! He didn’t have to fly anymore. He looked down.
He saw frogs leaping about in ponds. He saw bright red, green, yellow and
purple birds. He saw dozens of flowers, all bright and colorful. But the
best thing he saw were other butterflies that looked just like him. He
flew down and landed among them. It was going to be a nice winter.
