It was a cold, snowy night. In a small, cozy nest, I was sleeping peacefully with my brother and sister while our mother was in search of some food. I awoke at the sound of a hawk's call. I stretched, fluffed up my feathers, and walked around the nest. Tweetie and Malcolm stirred and then awoke.

"Hey! We're supposed to be sleeping!" exclaimed Malcolm.

"Yes, Mommy said that she would be back soon with some food."

"Sorry, the hawk's call just awoke me. I think it is the most beautiful sound I've ever heard! I want to sound like that one day," I said.

"Well you won't, so get that crazy idea out of your head!" scolded Malcolm.

"Yes, and I'm going back to bed," said Tweetie firmly.

Malcolm and Tweetie lowered into a deep sleep.

I'm Jay. I am the runt of the family. My brother and sister make fun of me because one of my wings doesn't work, so I can't fly. But one day I'll show them, and they'll be sorry they made fun of me.

I heard the call of the hawk again. It sounded a lot closer this time. I turned around and there it was, sitting on the branch of the tree that was right next to my nest! It slowly stretched its long neck out and started snapping at me, Malcolm, and Tweetie. Suddenly we realized that it was after Tweetie, and if somebody didn't do something fast, she would die. I snuck around the hawk so that I was behind it and picked at its back. It screeched, a loud, awful screech, and I decided that I would never want to be a hawk. It flew off, screeching in the distance until I could hear it no more.

"Oh Jay," cried Tweetie, "you saved my life! Thank you so much!"

"Yes, you have been very brave tonight, Jay. We never should have made fun of you," said Malcolm.

From then on, I was known as Brave One because I wasn't scared of anything.