A Surprise Visitor Read online

  Contents

  Chapter 1: Party Time!

  Chapter 2: Daydream Surprise

  Chapter 3: Follow That Sound!

  Chapter 4: Sophie to the Rescue

  Chapter 5: Finch’s Story

  Chapter 6: A Picture of Home

  Chapter 7: More Visitors?

  Chapter 8: First, Dessert!

  Chapter 9: When Mice Fly . . .

  Chapter 10: Finch’s Farewell

  The Great Big Paw Print Excerpt

  About Poppy Green and Jennifer A. Bell

  Party Time!

  All week long, Sophie had been looking forward to Saturday.

  Now—finally—the day was here. The Mouse family was having a dinner party. Their guests would be arriving any minute!

  Sophie studied the dining table. She wanted to make sure everything was perfect.

  “Oh! The place cards!” Sophie said suddenly. “How could I forget?”

  She scurried up to her bedroom. On her drawing table were ten cards, set out to dry. Sophie had painted them by hand.

  Back downstairs, Sophie walked around the table. She smiled as she put down the first card. It read HARRIET in neat brush strokes. The I was dotted with a flower. Sophie was one of few who knew her best friend Hattie Frog’s real name.

  At another spot, Sophie put down a place card for her other best friend, Owen Snake. She had made a smiley face inside the O.

  “I’ll put my place card right between theirs,” Sophie decided. She’d get to sit next to both of them!

  She knew her little brother, Winston, would want to sit near them. So Sophie put his card at the spot right across from her own. She put the place card for Hattie’s big sister, Lydie, across from Hattie.

  Finally, she placed the cards for the grown-ups: George and Lily Mouse, Mr. and Mrs. Frog, and Mrs. Snake.

  “There!” Sophie said. “Now everything is ready.”

  “Good!” said Winston. He was peering out the front window. “Because here they come!”

  Sophie and Winston raced to the door. Good hosts always give their guests a warm welcome! Sophie thought.

  She flung the door open. “Hello everyone!” she called.

  “Sophie!” Hattie and Owen cried and ran toward her. Their families were right behind them.

  Sophie welcomed all the guests. She and Winston took coats while George and Lily Mouse came out from the kitchen to say hello.

  Sophie and Winston had already decided that the kids would play a game of hide-and-seek. It was one of their favorites! Sophie drew the short stick and had to be the seeker. But she didn’t complain. She knew a good host probably shouldn’t.

  When it was time for dinner, Sophie helped everyone find their place. She poured water from the walnut jug into the acorn cups. Then she helped her parents serve the food.

  Before Sophie knew it, it was time for dessert. She jumped up from the table as her parents cleared the dishes. Because she—Sophie Mouse—had made the dessert all by herself. She could not wait for everyone to see it!

  Sophie hurried down into the root cellar. She opened the icebox. Very carefully, she took out the trifle. It was made of eight layers of sponge cake, berries, and whipped cream. They made a pretty pattern through the sides of the glass bowl.

  Sophie climbed up the cellar stairs. She grinned, imagining what everyone would say. As she reached the top step, she called out, “Time for dessert!”

  Only it wasn’t the top step. There was one more step. And Sophie tripped on it. The serving bowl went flying. Sophie lunged for it. She got a grip on the base. But then the whole bowl turned upside down. The contents of the bowl tipped over and—

  SPLAT!

  Whipped cream, berries, and cake fell in a heap at Sophie’s feet.

  All heads turned. For a moment, no one spoke. Surprised faces looked from Sophie to the dessert puddle—and back again.

  Sophie felt like crying. Her whole dessert—it was ruined! But Sophie took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. She figured that’s what a good host would do.

  “Well, I guess we’re having tea for dessert,” she said, forcing a smile.

  Daydream Surprise

  After all the guests had left, Sophie got her sketchbook and sat on the couch, drawing. Winston picked out a book and plopped down next to her. Lily Mouse was putting away leftovers from dinner. George Mouse was drying the dishes.

  “What a nice party we had,” Mrs. Mouse said.

  Sophie groaned. “Except for when I dropped the dessert!” she said.

  Mr. Mouse came over and squeezed Sophie’s shoulder. “I know it was disappointing after all your hard work, but you handled it very well, Sophie.”

  Mrs. Mouse hung up her apron. “We can have guests again soon,” she said gently. “And you can make the trifle again! You’re a pro now.”

  Sophie had had the same idea. She was already dreaming about what the new and improved trifle would be like.

  The next day Mr. Mouse was getting ready for a work meeting. He’d finished the blueprints for a new birdhouse and was going to show the family. It was going to have a convertible roof that could be opened on warm, sunny days.

  Mrs. Mouse announced she was going out too. “I need to stop by the berry patch. There are lots of berries in my recipes for this week,” she explained. Mrs. Mouse owned the bakery in Pine Needle Grove, and she was always coming up with delicious—and imaginative—new treats.

  Winston wanted to go too. “I’ll come and help!” he exclaimed. Sophie bet he was really thinking about the berries he could eat as he picked.

  Sophie decided to stay home. She had her sketchpad at the dining table and wanted to finish her drawing.

  So the rest of the family went off. Sophie was on her own for the afternoon. She didn’t mind one bit.

  With the house quiet, Sophie just sat for a while. Her sketchbook lay open in her lap. But she gazed out the window and let her mind wander into a daydream.

  The sky is so blue today, she thought. I wonder what that color looks like to birds up in the sky. If blue is all around you, does it look more blue because there’s so much of it? Or less blue because there are no other colors to compare it to?

  From there, Sophie daydreamed about being able to fly. She pictured herself perched on a tree branch. She flapped her wings. Her feet lifted off the branch. She was flying—but just barely. And it was so much work! Her wings were getting tired. But now there was nothing nearby to land on! She was sinking lower and lower in the air. She started to tumble down, head over feet, until—

  WHOMP!

  Sophie snapped out of her day-dream. What was that sound? Was it in her daydream? Or had it actually happened? Sophie was almost certain she had really heard it.

  But where had the noise come from?

  Follow That Sound!

  Sophie’s whiskers twitched. The rest of her was absolutely still. She waited for the sound to repeat.

  She could hear trees rustling in the breeze outside.

  She could hear the ticking of the clock on a shelf.

  Then Sophie’s ears perked up at a different sound.

  Chirrrrrrp.

  Of course, chirps were not an unusual sound around here. The Mouse family had lots of bird neighbors. But this chirp was particularly long and low-pitched for a chirp. To Sophie, it sounded kind of sad.

  It also sounded particularly close. Almost as if it was coming from inside the house. Sophie’s heart beat a little faster. Was there someone else in the house?

  Chirrrrrrp.

  There it was again! Sophie turned toward the staircase. That time it sounded like it was coming from the second floor.

  Slowly, warily, Sophie climbed the stairs. At the top, she peered around the corner. She could se
e all the way down the hall.

  There was no one there.

  Chirrrrrrp.

  This one was even louder. I’m getting closer! Sophie figured.

  She tiptoed to the doorway of her parents’ bedroom. She peeked inside. No sign of anyone.

  Next she came to Winston’s room. No one.

  Chirp. Chirrrrrrp.

  Sophie glanced toward the end of the hall. That one definitely sounded like it came from my room! she thought.

  Sophie scurried to her open door. She didn’t see anyone inside. She entered her room and flung open her closet. She looked under her bed. She looked behind her drawing table. But her bedroom seemed just the same as always.

  Sophie was puzzled. She sat down on her bed to think.

  Chirrrrrrp.

  Sophie jumped up. She followed the sound to the open window.

  Sophie leaned on the windowsill and poked her head out. She looked up into the branches of the trees.

  Suddenly, a voice came from somewhere quite close to her!

  Chirp. “H-hello?”

  Sophie jumped in surprise. She hit the back of her head on the raised window. “Ow!” she cried.

  “Oh! Are you okay?” the little voice asked. “So sorry to startle you!”

  Rubbing her head, Sophie leaned back out to see who was there.

  Sophie to the Rescue

  A small bird was sitting on the section of the roof over the Mouse family’s living room. Since there was no second floor above it, the bird was at the same level as Sophie’s window.

  “Are—are you okay?” Sophie asked the bird.

  The bird looked down at his left wing. “Well. N-not exactly,” he said with another gloomy chirp. “My wing really hurts. I don’t think I can fly right now. So . . .” He peered nervously down over the roof’s edge. “I think I’m stuck up here.”

  Sophie looked around. She couldn’t just leave the little bird. But how could she help him get down safely?

  Suddenly Sophie remembered something.

  “Hold on!” she called to the bird. “I’ll be right there.”

  Sophie hurried downstairs and out the front door. She ran around the side of the house. At a certain point, the house nestled up against the trunk of the oak tree. She stopped at the intersection and looked up at the roof. There was the bird! She waved.

  Then Sophie started climbing the tree trunk. Her feet easily found a series of footholds carved into the bark. Together, the footholds formed a kind of ladder. It led right up to the roof of the house.

  Before she knew it, Sophie had climbed to the roof level. From there, she could reach out and touch the bird.

  “How did you do that?” the bird asked her.

  Sophie smiled. “My dad made this ladder years ago,” she explained. “He was fixing the roof. It made the job easier. I’m glad I remembered it was here!”

  Sophie had lots of questions for the bird. But she could see that now was not the time. So she just asked his name.

  “It’s Finch,” he said with a shy smile.

  “Hi, Finch. I’m Sophie,” she said cheerfully. “Now let’s get you down from here!”

  Sophie helped Finch get his legs on the top two footholds of the ladder. Then Sophie went first and very slowly helped guide Finch down. She supported his weight, since he could use only one wing.

  When they got to the ground, they both sighed with relief.

  “Thank you so much!” said Finch.

  “Of course,” Sophie replied. “So . . . what happened? How did you get stuck up on our roof?”

  Finch’s Story

  Finch looked down at the ground. He seemed embarrassed. “Well, I was playing hide-and-seek with my friends—”

  “That’s funny!” Sophie said. “I just played hide-and-seek with my friends last night! We love that game.” Then she realized she had interrupted. “Sorry. Go on.”

  Finch smiled. “Well, I flew off to find a hiding spot. Maybe I flew too far. But anyway, I hid and I waited. No one came to find me. So I flew back toward home base. But I got totally lost. I was looking for familiar trees and then all of a sudden I got knocked out of the air. I think it was a branch that came loose. And I fell right onto your roof.”

  “Oh dear,” said Sophie. “That branch! What bad luck!”

  Finch nodded. “Thanks again for helping me down. I don’t know what I would have done.”

  Sophie invited Finch inside. “Are you hungry?” she asked him. “My mom made some muffins this morning. She runs the bakery in Pine Needle Grove.”

  Finch followed behind her. “I’ve never been to Pine Needle Grove. I live on Sugar Maple Lane. Have you heard of it?”

  Sophie shook her head no. “And I’m not sure I’ve ever met a finch before!” she said excitedly.

  Finch laughed. “Actually, I’m not a finch. I’m a blue-winged warbler.” He shrugged. “My parents named me Finch after a friend of theirs.”

  “Oh, how nice!” Sophie exclaimed. “I don’t know where my name came from. But my little brother, Winston, couldn’t pronounce it when he was a baby. He used to say ‘Thophie,’ ” she said, laughing as she remembered.

  Finch laughed too.

  Sophie found a tin of muffins and offered one to Finch. He reached for it with his left wing. “Ouch!” he cried.

  “Oh no,” Sophie said. “Does it hurt a lot?”

  Finch rubbed his hurt wing with his other wing. “Not when I don’t try to move it,” he said.

  “Hmm,” said Sophie. “Then maybe we should keep you from moving it. You need a sling!”

  Sophie started looking around the room for something to use.

  “What’s a sling?” Finch asked as she scurried about.

  Sophie explained. “It’ll take some weight off your wing. And it will remind you not to use it. My brother had one after he twisted his wrist.”

  Sophie looked and looked. She searched upstairs, too. But she couldn’t find anything right for a sling.

  Then a leaf blew in through an open window. “Aha!” she said. “I should look outside! I’ll be right back!”

  Sophie ran out the front door. She found a large, soft wild ginger leaf that was just the right size. She also picked two long blades of grass.

  Back inside, Sophie gently wrapped the leaf around Finch’s wing. She used the grass to hold the sling in place, tying the blades behind his neck.

  “There!” said Sophie. “That should keep your wing protected. At least while we figure out what to do.”

  Finch nodded.

  Sophie smiled.

  Finch shrugged, then said, “So, what should we do?”

  A Picture of Home

  Sophie wondered if they should go find her mom or dad. But she wasn’t exactly sure where her dad’s meeting was. As for finding her mom, the berry patch was a long walk. And there were a few ways to get there. What if they set out one way while Mrs. Mouse and Winston were coming home another way?

  Meanwhile, Finch was looking around. “Your house is really nice,” he said. “It’s so different than mine.”

  “Thanks!” Sophie replied. “My dad designed it. He’s an architect.”

  Sophie gave Finch a tour. She showed him the root cellar, and the little porch, and the upstairs, including her room. Finch asked about her art table.

  “I really love to draw and paint,” Sophie explained. “So I also call this my studio!”

  Finch pointed to some paintings on a shelf. “Did you paint all these?” he asked.

  Sophie nodded. “Yep! Most of them are places I’ve been.”

  Finch looked very impressed. “You’re really good!”

  “Thanks!” Sophie said proudly.

  Finch looked more closely at each painting—one by one. There was the painting of the buttercup patch, where Owen had rescued her from a hole. One of Weedsnag Way, where she and Hattie had found the emerald berries. There was Forget-Me-Not Lake and Hickory Hill, and more. Looking at them helped Sophie remember all of her adventures so
clearly.

  Finch turned to Sophie. “Would you do a painting . . . for me?” he asked.

  Sophie beamed. “I’d love to!” she replied. “I could do it right now!”

  So Sophie got out a blank piece of paper. She clipped it to her easel. She got her brushes and paints ready.

  Then she looked at Finch. “Tell me about Sugar Maple Lane,” she said.

  Finch thought about it for a minute. Then he described the view from his family’s front porch. From there, he could see all the way down Sugar Maple Lane.

  “It’s a row of six sugar maple trees,” Finch said. “In each one, there is a layer of branches that line up perfectly with the other trees’ branches. Dozens of bird families have built their houses there. So it’s like any neighborhood—it’s just way up above the ground.”

  Finch described many more details: the colors, the shapes, the textures of his world. He watched Sophie add them to the scene.

  “Wow,” said Sophie when they finished. “Sugar Maple Lane is beautiful. I need to come and visit sometime!”

  Finch flapped his good wing. “You should!” he replied. “I would love to host you at my house.”

  Hearing the word “host,” Sophie suddenly realized something.

  “Of course!” she exclaimed. “I am your host! That means you are my guest!”