🐦‍⬛ The Winter Birds' Breakfast

One cold winter morning, Pepper the cat looked out of the window. The garden was covered in frost, and the bird bath was frozen solid. A little robin sat on the fence, fluffed up like a round ball.

"The birds look hungry," said Pepper to her friend, a girl named Mia. "It's hard for them to find food when the ground is frozen."

"Let's make them a winter breakfast," said Mia. They threaded cereal hoops onto string, like necklaces. They spread seeds on a pinecone. They cut an apple into pieces. Pepper supervised, which meant sitting on the table and watching very carefully.

Mia hung the cereal necklaces on the tree, set the seed pinecone on a branch and put the apple pieces on the bird table. She poured warm water into the bird bath to melt the ice. Splash!

Then they went inside and watched from the window. Pepper sat very still, her tail curled around her paws. She was a watching cat today, not a chasing cat.

At first, nothing happened. Then the robin flew down and pecked at the apple. Then came two blue tits, swinging on the cereal necklaces. Then a blackbird, a sparrow and a whole family of finches. The garden was full of chirps and flutters.

"It's a bird party!" whispered Mia. Pepper's whiskers twitched with delight. She had never seen so many different birds up close.

Every morning that winter, Mia and Pepper made breakfast for the birds. And when spring came, the birds sang the most beautiful songs in their garden, as if to say thank you. Pepper purred along.