Every summer, two cousins named Hinata and Haru go to live with their grandparents. Their grandparents work and live on a train. The Periwinkle Turkeywaddle Express isn't like other trains...
One evening, the dinner bell rang on the Periwinkle Turkeywaddle Express and everybody walked to the dining car.
Everybody except Hinata.
"Where is your cousin?" Grandma asked Haru.
"With her bird friends," Haru said.
"I didn't know Hinata had bird friends," Grandma said.
In fact, Hinata had a thousand bird friends. Ever since she read a book about making bird calls, she'd spent every free moment at the window of the caboose. Tweet tweet tweeeeeeeet, she'd sing. No sparrow, robin, woodpecker or blue jay could resist. They flew in from all over and soon every inch of the caboose was packed with birds.
Not only did Hinata miss dinner that night she even missed her favorite chocolate and asparagus cake, which her grandfather baked every Tuesday night.
"What on earth is your cousin doing?" Grandma asked Haru.
"She really, really, really likes talking with those birds," Haru said.
Hinata was spending so much time talking with her bird friends that she didn't hear about the train's newest adventure. The Periwinkle Turkeywaddle Express had picked up some explorers, and was going to chug its way all the way to the top of Mt. Pineapple.
"It's one of the steepest mountains in the world," one of the explorers said. "They built train tracks on it, but no train has ever made it to the top. We'll be famous!"
The Periwinkle Turkeywaddle Express sped toward the mountain. The closer they got, the more excited everyone on the train became. The explorers pressed their faces to the windows. Haru pressed his face to the window. The grandparents pressed their faces to the windows. And Hinata, well, Hinata stayed in the caboose talking with her bird friends.
Finally the train reached the base of Mt. Pineapple. The mountain was so tall nobody could see the top they just saw clouds.
"Oh boy," Grandma said.
"That's awfully steep," said Haru.
"Here we go!" announced Grandpa.
The Periwinkle Turkeywaddle Express inched forward and started the climb. Everyone on board clutched their chairs. The engine wheezed and strained. The wheels groaned. Slowly, very slowly, the train chugged ahead.
"We'll be able to see for hundreds of miles," one of the explorers exclaimed.
"They'll write about us in the history books," another one said.
"And we'll-"
But suddenly the train stopped. Grandma and Grandpa came running out of the locomotive.
"It's too steep!" they cried. "We can't make it up!"
"Can we get out and push?" one of the explorers asked.
"There aren't enough of us," Grandpa said.
"Can we get rid of some extra weight?" Haru asked.
"There's no extra weight to get rid of," Grandma said.
Just then, the door to the caboose flung open. It was Hinata, wearing a funny grin on her face.
"I've got an idea," she said. And at that, she ran to the nearest window, threw it open and called out the loudest tweeeeeeeeeeeet anyone had ever heard.
Everybody on the train stared. One by one, thousands of birds began to appear. Blackbirds and eagles and pigeons and crows and owls and hawks and hummingbirds flew in from as far as the eye could see. The sky was black with birds. There was even a pink flamingo.
Hinata tweeted some more and in a flash the birds took off toward the front of the train - all carrying pieces of string in their beaks. In no time they were tying the string to different parts of the train.
"Cross your fingers, everyone!" Hinata called, and the birds started to pull.
There was a slight lurch. And then another. Very slowly, the birds tugged the Periwinkle Turkeywaddle Express forward. The train started moving faster. And then faster. The birds flapped and flapped, and Hinata cheered them on.
Pretty soon the train was chugging around and around Mt. Pineapple until it was at the top. The train stopped on a flat section of the peak, and everybody climbed out to admire the incredible view. The birds had untied their pieces of string, and now they landed in a large circle near Hinata. Hinata introduced them to everyone from the train.
"What would we have done without you all?" Grandma asked her granddaughter.
"I don't know," Hinata said. "But I'm sure we could all go for some chocolate and asparagus cake."
"I think I have some birdseed, too," Grandpa said, and he climbed back on the train to find it.
The End
