• Download

Read by Jana
Written by Bertie

Hello, hello!
And welcome to Storynory!
You’re listening to Jana and I am back with a Birdy story with an interesting twist.
Jake’s ‘Spell’ of Bad Luck

This story is dedicated to Nicole, Nico and Nathan, who generously support Storynory

One evening, Jake was sprawled out on the sofa. He was happily absorbed in his Robin Hood book - ‘The tales of the Merry Men’, when he noticed a small shadow flitting across the doorway. He knew his peace was over.
It wasn’t his best friend, Birdy. In fact, a bird-shaped shadow would have been more than welcome. No, the shadow belonged to his little sister, Elle.

“Jakeyyy,” came her singsong voice. “I want to meet Birdy. You said he talks to you, and I want him to talk to me too!”
Jake sighed, keeping his eyes on his book. “Elle, Birdy isn’t just any crow. He’s a magical bird. He doesn’t like being shown off to everyone.”

Elle crossed her arms, frowning. “I’m not everyone; I’m your sister!” she insisted, creeping closer. “What’s the big deal, Jake? You’re always saying how smart he is. If he can talk, can’t I just say hello?”

“Birdy chooses who he talks to,” Jake replied. “He’s a very busy bird and hasn’t got time to talk to you.”

Elle pinched him. “You’re so mean!”
Jake shook his head and tried to read his book, even as Elle tugged at his hair, trying to force his attention. But he was adamant: Birdy had no interest in meeting her, especially as she’d probably pull his feathers.

A few days went by, and Jake forgot about the incident. Then the weekend arrived, bringing a new annoyance—Elle had two friends over for a sleepover. For Jake, this wasn’t Elle times three; it was maybe Elle times twenty. He had to contend with non-stop shrieks, laughter, singing, and dancing to bubblegum pop. He tried to stay out of their way, but when he went looking for his iPad, he had to walk into the sitting room where the girls were hanging out. Elle pointed at him and whispered, “That’s my brother, Jake. His best friend is a talking bird, but I’ve never heard him speak. He won’t let anyone near his magic friend.”
Polina, one of Elle’s friends, got up and rummaged through her overnight bag. She said, “Do not worry Elle, look what I’ve got,” as she pulled out a little black book: “My babushka from back home gave me her old spell book ‘Little Witches book of spells’, she grinned wickedly.
“That’s just a storybook,” said Jake.
“It’s got real spells in it!” she fired.
The other girl, Maya leaned over and whispered something to Polina. “I know. Let’s put a spell on Jake!”
Jake heard this loud and clear.
“Putting spells on people, even pretend spells, is not ok,” said Jake.
And he turned to his sister. “Elle, that’s why I don’t let you talk to Birdy. You’d probably ask him to do a bad spell, and that would be so embarrassing.”

As he turned to leave, he heard three little girls’ sniggering behind his back.

That night, Jake waited for his best friend, but Birdy did not arrive. This was nothing unusual. Birdy was often away on some sort of important mission.

His attempts to fall asleep were constantly interrupted by the sound of giggles from Elle’s room across the corridor. The laughter grew louder and louder, and then it went quiet. He thought he could hear whispering.

“I bet they’re plotting something,” he thought.

He got up and opened his door. He could see the glow of a flashlight flickering under his sister’s door. Then he began to hear the girls’ voices in a low but distinct chant:

“Bad luck to Jake, curse him into the night,
With stumbles and tumbles, and trips full of fright!”

Jake’s eyes widened. It sounded like some ridiculous “curse,” the kind only seven -year-olds would think up. That was probably because Elle and her friends were actually seven years old.

“Polina, your spell book is so much fun,” Jake heard Elle say. There was a rustling of pages, then Polina whispered. “It’s got spells for bad dreams, itchy noses… even losing things!”
“Not very nice,” thought Jake. “Doing bad magic is wrong.” The chant began again.
“Bad luck to Jake, curse him into the night,
With stumbles and tumbles, and trips full of fright!
May Birdy the crow lose feathers galore—”

Elle’s voice broke off as she giggled. “Imagine him all scruffy! He’d look like a plucked chicken!” The girls burst into laughter.

Once the laughter settled, Elle continued with wicked glee in her voice.
“Whenever he calls, let Birdy forget,
And make Jake feel silly with every regret!”
The other girl, Maya added, “And maybe… make Jake grow feathers instead of hair!”
“Yes, and if Jake keeps Birdy all to himself, may he trip over every time he opens his mouth!”added Elle.
As the giggles turned into hushed whispers, Jake sighed, shaking his head. “This is ridiculous,” he muttered, trying to brush it off.

That night, he had bad dreams about all sorts of things going wrong.

Jake was about to save a goal when he tripped over a daisy, and all the team were angry with him. Then he got into trouble at school for leaving chewing gum on the teacher’s register. And when he got home, Birdy was bald because all his feathers had fallen off.

He woke up feeling very strange, half wondering if his dreams were true.

At breakfast, he complained to Mum that Elle’s friends were witches and had put a spell on him.

“Don’t call girls witches, Jake, that’s rude,” scolded his mum. So Jake didn’t say anything more. But although he knew the girls’ bad luck spell was all nonsense, he felt uneasy. He had to admit, the spell was bothering him. Oh, how he wished Birdy was around! He’d know what to do.

And right on cue, the following week brought nothing but bad luck for poor Jake. And this time he wasn’t dreaming. The whole week was like a waking nightmare.

On Monday, he forgot his lunch box and was hungry all day at school. Tuesday went fine during the day, but in the evening, he spilt juice on his homework. Wednesday brought more disasters. He actually did trip over a daisy and missed a save at his football match… just like in the dream. And worse than the dream, when he went back to the changing rooms, he couldn’t find his school tie.

And just as he thought things couldn’t get any worse, Thursday came along and was even more of a calamity.
He was late for school due to lack of sleep.
He was duly embarrassed when the head teacher told him off during assembly for not wearing his tie and being late for registration. He was put in double detention.

And Friday… well, Friday was truly the worst yet. His teacher said that his mum had forgotten to pay for the school trip to the adventure camp, so he couldn’t go because it was now fully booked.
What a miserable week Jake had.
That evening, Jake finally heard a welcome sound.
Tap tap tap on his windowpane.
“Birdy! Where have you been?” he called out.
“Oh, here and there,” Birdy replied in his raspy voice. “And all around the world a couple of times.”

“Well, it’s all been happening here,” said Jake. “Elle’s witchy friends came for a sleepover, and they bought a magic book. They put a bad luck spell on me, and it’s been the worst week of my life! Goodness knows what they’re planning next?”

“What went wrong?” Asked Birdy.

“Tons of things! Like not saving an easy goal at football, and being put in detention for forgetting my tie! The head teacher told me off in front of the whole school Birdy!
And I didn’t get to go on the school trip,” said Jake almost in tears.

“That is terrible,” said Birdy sympathetically. “But don’t blame the girls—they can’t do proper magic. They were probably just larking around like kids do.”
“But I had such bad luck! I couldn’t even get a proper night's sleep.”
“Maybe you were expecting bad luck, and that’s what made it happen. Luck, more than anything else, is all about what’s going on in your little mind, and absolutely nothing to do with magic.”

“Elle’s now saying she’s got some really bad news for me that’s going to be just horrible, and I’ll only hear about it tomorrow. She’s going to laugh because it’s good news for her. I’m scared, Birdy. What could be worse than what’s already happened?”

“Plenty of things could happen plenty worse.”

“Ohhhhhh!”

“But don’t worry, because they probably won’t. Whatever news comes tomorrow, don’t despair. Just think how you can turn it to your advantage. Whatever you do, don’t let Elle see that you’re unhappy about anything. Greet the news with a big smile and say, ‘Great, just what I’ve always wanted.’ Say that after me.”
Jake shook his head.
“Go on,” urged Birdy. “These are the proper magic words that you’re going to say when you hear the news.”
“All right,” mumbled Jake. “‘Great, just what I’ve always wanted.’”

And the next day, when the news came, it was worse than anything he could possibly have imagined.

Mum announced that his cousin Poppy had invited them to her wedding and Jake had to go like it or not. And even worse, Jake was going to be a groom at the wedding and would have to dress up in a suit, tie, and shiny new shoes. And worse still, he had been chosen to go up the front of the church and read a soppy, love poem, written by Poppy.

This was the most terrible news ever. It took Jake all his strength to look at Elle, who was sniggering away, and say the magic words, “Great, that’s, thats just what I’ve always wanted.”

The wedding was happening soon. Mum had known about it for ages but hadn’t told Jake until the last minute because she knew he would hate it.
She gave him the poem and told him to practice it.
It was awful. The soppiest thing you ever heard. But all the same, Birdy persuaded him to learn it, word for word.

“If you want to survive this ordeal. It’s far better that you do it well rather than badly. And if you look like you’re enjoying it, you might be the star of the show, apart from the bride and groom, of course.”

“But I don’t want to be the star of the show,” protested Jake.

“Trust me, if you are able to speak well in front of an audience, good luck will come to ya. Doing this sort of thing right is proper magic, not the silly spell kind of magic that you find in silly storybooks.”

The wedding day came, crisp and bright. A beautiful winters day. But Jake felt like he was on the verge of facing a dinosaur—only this time, it was a fancy suit, a poem, and an entire churchful of relatives and their friends staring at him.

His mum was fussing with his collar as they reached the old country church, chirping about how handsome he looked. Jake tried to keep his scowl to himself, although every bit of him wanted to bolt. And then there was Elle, swishing around in her bridesmaid dress, sneering playfully whenever she thought he wasn’t looking. She hadn’t forgotten her “curse” and still whispered to her cousins that the poem would be a “disaster.”

Finally, they were inside the church. His cousin Poppy walked up the aisle looking like a princess in a fairytale. Even Jake felt it—there was a kind of magic.

When the time came, Jake stood up to read. He glanced around the room full of beaming relatives and took a deep breath. He tried to remember Birdy’s advice from the night before: “Pack up your troubles, Keep smiling and carry on!!”

And so, with a nice, clear voice, he began:

“Love is a flower, tender and bright,
It grows with care, and blossoms with light…”

He paused to let his nerves settle, then pressed on, willing himself to sound steady. Somehow, the more he read, the easier it got. He even managed a small smile by the end.

People don’t usually clap in a wedding ceremony, but as he walked back to his seat, he noticed approving smiles and glances.

After the ceremony and photographs, they all climbed aboard a double-decker bus to travel to a big country house where the reception was taking place. Jake thought his duties were over, but then he felt a tap on his shoulder. His uncle was grinning down at him. “Jake, could you spare an hour to help us?” Mi

“Well, yeah, I suppose so.”

“Well, that’s good, because Roddy and I”—Roddy was his older cousin—“are heading off to the airdrome to pick up the helicopter. We thought you might like to join us for a short flight.”

“Oh yeah, cool,” said Jake, still a bit confused.

His mum smiled from ear to ear and said, “See what a lucky boy you are,” which was annoying, but not so annoying as to spoil his excitement.

On the way to the airdrome, Jake’s uncle explained that he’d hired a helicopter to fly the bride and groom to their honeymoon. But he had always wanted to go up in one himself, so he’d arranged to fly in it on the way to the reception. There were three passenger seats—one for Uncle, one for Roddy, and one for Jake.

Jake could hardly believe his ears. This was going to be the coolest trip ever. It began in his uncle’s flashy German car, and when they got to the airdrome, a bright red helicopter was waiting for them. They clambered aboard, and the rotors began to whirl. It was incredibly noisy. The pilot was holding what looked like a gear stick that was shaking all over the place, and then, with a jolt, they lifted off the ground.

Now that was magic.

The views of the countryside, the church, and the estate of the country house were stunning. When they landed on the lawn and hopped out, everyone was watching from the ballroom where the reception was taking place. Jake felt like a film star or a billionaire or a secret agent.

He looked over to the house, his gaze drifting up to the roof. Sure enough, perched on top of a chimney pot was the figure he was looking for: the shape of a black crow. The wisest bird you could ever imagine!
And that was Jake’s ‘Spell’ of Bad Luck!
I hope you enjoyed our Birdy story. There were a few unexpected twists and turns - as in real life you never know what’s just around the corner.

And I’d like to thank Nicole, Nico and Nathan who very generously support Storynory. And if you would like to support us,the easiest way is via PayPal. Please visit Storynory.com for details.
From me Jana at Storynory.com see you next time.