She noticed how Toad was seemingly nestled right down into the ground. His big toad belly was kind of pooched out on the sides. He looked for all the world as if he was part of the ground itself. Finch mimicked him. She placed herself right down, tucking her feet up under herself.
She opened eyes as wide as she could, doing her best to make them bulge out like Toad’s. She wiped her wing over her face and squeaked out her little bird version of a croak. All in all, it was not a half bad impression of a plump toad. Satisfied with her efforts, she looked at toad and said, “Now then, it’s your turn!”
Toad looked at Finch. He was clearly reluctant but decided to put forth his best efforts. He began sort of lifting himself up with odd little jerks of his front legs. His rather large toad belly never quite left the ground.
“What are you doing?” asked Finch.
“I’m flying!” said Toad. His feelings a tad hurt that Finch was clearly unimpressed with his technique.
“You’ll have to get higher than that!” said Finch. She felt as if Toad’s impression of her was far from flattering. She was certain she didn’t look anything like Toad’s clumsy impression of her.
Toad stretched out one leg after the other and slowly and gingerly pulled himself up onto a nearby smooth garden stone. “High enough?” Toad asked as he resumed his curious twitching flight attempts.
Finch firmly shook her head, “No!”
Toad responded by twitching even more spasmodically. Feeling quite proud of himself, he looked over at Finch. She cocked her head, clearly questioning his efforts.
5.