The Day of the Toucans

The car was rumbling up the dirt road to Rancho Shadday. We had been driving for about 45 minutes already. I was in the middle row, squished on the driver’s side. I was just about to crash when Mom said, “We’re here!” I was so excited. We had driven for about 50 minutes and I needed to stretch my legs. I hopped out of the car and walked over to the place where you place your food order. Somebody came to the front and asked for our order. “You can have chicken, beef, pork, or fish,” he said with a Spanish accent.

“I would like the beef,” Dad said. The man nodded and said something in Spanish to one of the ladies that were cooking.

The lady shouted something  back, then the man turned back to us and said, “Sorry, there is no beef left.”

So that meant we could only have chicken, pork, or fish. 

“I would like the fish, please,” I said.

“Can you make a meal without meat?” Mom asked. The man nodded and smiled.

“Could I have the pork?” Dad asked. The man nodded.

Mom and my sister Kaitlin both wanted the chicken, but I wanted the fish. The man nodded when we were finished putting in our order. So we walked to a counter that overlooks jungle mountains. It was quite beautiful. I was  there, drinking my Fanta when I saw it. It was black, red, white. And it had a big beak. It was a toucan!

“Hey guys look! Look!” I screamed. “Toucan!”

It landed in a tree right near us. Almost everybody came to look. It was a bit hidden, but you could see it.

After a while, I got tired of looking at it, and went back to talking with my family. We were having a good time when Macy cocked her head up. “Toucan!” she said with a smile on her face. I rushed back to see… nothing in the tree. I couldn’t see then toucan. But then I saw another one fly into the tree. So I could only see one. But then both of them flew out of the tree and landed on another tree. And they were very close to each other. Dad got a picture and Mom was overexcited.

I went to a small porch, and then one of the people that worked there came over to me. I had a stick in my hand, and he took it from me. Then, he started to take off the skin with a knife to reveal… the meat. He gave me some and I took a bite. “Sugarcane,” he said. It was actually very good. It was very sweet, too. I got another piece for my family, but they had their food. Macy tried some of the sugarcane. Her face didn’t show any dislike. Another toucan appeared, but it was now regular. The lady came out and told us that my meal was forgotten.

“Oh, it’s okay,” Mom said.

So I had to wait a bit longer for my food. My food was okay, but the fish was amazing. We stayed a bit longer to see if any more toucans showed up. We saw one, then it went to another tree very close by. After a bit of looking at it, we ended our Rancho Shadday adventure, and headed back down the mountain to Casa Maganda.

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"Steve"

"Steve" takes his pseudonym from Minecraft, one of his favorite hobbies. But certainly not the only one! This 8-year-old also plays piano and composes his own music. He's passionate about Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, and plays four-square at recess every day. His favorite sports include baseball, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, swimming and tennis.