Mystery Page

This is Woody! Woody is a toy that lives in a tree at Wright School. Here's the story of how Woody ended up in this upside-down predicament!

Woody and the Woodpecker

One day two young children were having a picnic on the green spring grass of Wright School. Above the picnickers was a spreading pine tree that towered over the gophers and all creatures walking below. The young girl, Piper, was spreading peanut butter on a cracker for her younger brother who was hungry after a hard day of learning. "Peter! Come and get your food!." Young Peter came running. As he ran he was dragging his favorite toy from a string. As the Woody doll bounced along the grass it would occasionally hit a gopher mound and bounce high in the air before crashing down and tumbling like a gymnast doing cartwheels. While Peter munched on his cracker he put Woody down next to the base of the towering pine. "Look at all the holes in the trunk of this tree, Piper!" Piper liked to answer Peter's questions. It made her feel like the big sister she was. "Mr. Klobas told us about a woodpecker called the Red-naped Sapsucker that makes those holes." bragged Piper. "They make the holes in a line around the tree to attract bugs when the sap runs out. Then the bird comes back and eats the bugs." Peter wasn't really listening to his sister because she was using that voice she uses when she wants him to know that he is the 'little' brother in the family.

Woody wasn't really sad to be left behind the tree when Piper and Peter's mom came to pick them up because he didn't really like being dragged around and bounced off gopher mounds. In fact what concerned Woody most was the idea that Peter would come back and get him! Woody didn't know what was going to happen next but he hoped it involved getting found by a new child, preferably a gentle one!

The Red-naped Sapsucker, whose name happened to be Lily, didn't pay any attention to Woody as she was drilling a row of holes in the gigantic pine that afternoon. It wasn't until she heard the toy say, "Could you help me?" that she looked down and saw Woody looking rather sad far below. Flying down to the very base of the tree she talked with Woody and learned all about his problem. "So what can I do to help you?" asked the bird. Woody asked the woodpecker if she could carry him up to the top of the tree just in case his owner came back. Now Lily wasn't a large bird so carrying this toy was out of the question. "Well Woody, the best I can do is to make enough holes in the tree for you to use them like the steps on a ladder. Then you could climb up as far as you'd like."

Woody made sure no one was looking when he picked himself up off the grass and began to climb the tree. He felt like Jack in the book Jack and the Beanstalk only in reverse. Rather than climbing up to where a giant lived, he was climbing up to get away from a giant. Woody climbed up to the very top of the tree and as he looked out over the majestic view he couldn't help wonder what would become of him now that he was on his own.

The clouds that were far to the west seemed to be tumbling toward him like ocean waves when the sea was angry during a storm. It wasn't the rain that hit him first. It was the wind. The top of the tree began to bend like a fishing pole responding to the bite of large fish. Then the gusts turned violent sending Woody head over heels. As he tumbled down toward the ground he thought how much it was like being with Peter!

When Woody finally stopped swinging he realized two things. First, the good news, he knew he was still in the tree. Second, the bad news, he knew he was in trouble because he was upside-down hanging from the string Peter had tied around his waist.