Massively Revised The Other Island, still too long....

The Other Island
By Amy Wilensky


Once upon a time there was a bird named Felix and a giraffe named Boo who lived on the most beautiful island in the world.

Although they were nothing alike, Felix and Boo were the best of friends. Felix was small, with blue-black feathers that shimmered in the sunlight, and Boo was tall, with a spotted neck so long that she could peer into Felix’s nest to see if he was awake in the mornings.

Which she did one morning, at sunrise, but the nest was empty. “Felix?” she called. No answer. Finally she found him down on the beach, perched on a pile of smooth, grey stones.

“What are you doing?” asked Boo.
“Look at that island,” said Felix, gesturing at a tiny speck in the distance with one orange wing. “I wonder who lives there.” Boo suddenly felt a little bit nervous.

“Probably just some crabby old crabs,” said Boo. Felix hated crabs. They always tried to pinch at his wings.

“No,” said Felix, in a dreamy voice Boo had never heard before. “There aren’t any crabs there. I just know it somehow. That island is the most beautiful island on earth.”

Boo raised her eyebrows as high as they could go. (yes, some giraffes have eyebrows.) Was Felix kidding? Everyone knew their island was the most beautiful island. She followed Felix’s gaze. All she saw was a little green speck.

“Felix?” she said. Boo did not like where she sensed this was going. “Let’s go to my hammock and eat pomegranates and listen to the other birds wake up and sing.”

“No way.” said Felix, who was not flying in circles above Boo’s head, the way he did when he was coming up with a Big Idea. “I have a Big Idea. We’re going to have an adventure!”

For the next few hours, Felix and Boo worked as hard as a bird and giraffe could work. Felix stitched a sail from pomegranate leaves and reeds with his beak, and Boo dragged driftwood logs for the raft. As they worked, Felix talked nonstop. Boo couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

“Coconuts! They must have coconuts. I’ve always wanted to taste a coconut,” Felix said, and exhausted Boo imagined him pecking away at a hard brown shell with his delicate little beak.

“I like pomegranates,” she whispered. Felix didn’t hear.

When it was done, Boo pushed the raft out into the water. They both got on. “I will be the captain,” announced Felix. Boo didn’t care. She already felt homesick, and they weren’t even over the sandbar.

“Ship ahoy!” yelled Felix, as the sail caught a breeze. They were off.

As the other island grew closer, Felix’s tail feathers shook and shook. All Boo could think about was her little clearing, surrounded by trees with the most delicious leaves a giraffe could ever hope. All Felix could talk about was how boring their island was and how great the other island was going to be. “We might not even want to come back,” he said, and then the raft bumped up on shore.

They got off, and for a moment just stood there, taking it in.

Boo had to admit it: The other island was beautiful. The sand was white instead of pink but as soft as powder. The trees bore large brown fuzzy fruits. “Coconuts!” cried Felix, upon noticing. “I knew they’d have coconuts.”

“Come on, Boo,” shouted Felix, flying in circles again, then landing on her shoulder. “Let’s explore.”

They walked along the beach, and then into a cool, piney, forest, then through a meadow in which wildflowers bloomed in bursts red and orange like miniature planets and suns.

Finally, they came to the top of a hill. They could see the entire other island. It looked like the most colorful patchwork quilt imaginable, with squares of flowering trees in bloom, greenest pastures, buttery yellow sand rippled with bluest brooks.

“I want to see more,” said Felix, after a few minutes. They started down. All afternoon they explored. They saw a spring where the water bubbled up in all the colors of the rainbow. They saw a cave with walls of crystal. And coconuts, thousands of coconuts.

When dusk fell, Felix and Boo found themselves back at their raft. Felix cleared his throat, which meant he had something to say. Boo felt a lump in her throat the size of a coconut.

“Boo?” he began.
“Yes, Felix,” she said, afraid to look at him because tears were welling up in her eyes. She didn’t want to stay but she would if Felix wanted to.
“You see that boring old beautiful island over there?” He gestured with one wing.
“Yes,” said Boo. It was just light enough to make it out on the horizon.

“It’s time to go home,” said Felix.

On the ride back, Felix fell asleep, one wing wrapped around the coconut he’d insisted on bringing. Boo looked up at the moon as the raft pulled smoothly through the gentle waves, a crescent in the navy sky. She was glad they’d gone to the other island after all. Sometimes you have to leave to come back home.