In the bright moonlight, Jack is walking home. Suddenly, he finds a hawk (鹰) lying beside a box. Very curious, he begins to check it.

The hawk seems to be in pain. One of its wings looks broken, touching the ground. Its eyes look scared. So Jack takes off his T-shirt and wraps (包裹) it carefully round the hawk. Then he carries it home.

“I can’t take him into the house,” he thinks. “My mum doesn’t like animals in the house!”

Thinking for a while, Jack decides to hide the hawk in the garden shed (棚子). He secretly puts the hawk down on the floor with his T-shirt. Looking at the hawk, he says, “It’s your home now. Call you Falco, OK?”

After that, he goes back to his room. Unluckily, his parents are waiting for him. Finding his T-shirt missing, they get quite angry and don’t allow him to go out within a week. Jack goes to his room without any words, but he can’t fall asleep because he is worrying about Falco.

In the early morning, Jack takes some bread to feed Falco and goes back to his room secretly. After breakfast, Jack goes to the garden shed, holding a small bowl of water.

In the shed, he finds Falco sitting quietly in a corner, the bread still on the floor. Falco’s eyes are open, but not bright now. Jack puts the water in front of Falco. At first, Falco ignores (忽视) it, then he begins to drink. Jack sits quietly, looking at him, imagining Falco flying in the endless blue sky. But now he is trapped on the earth. “How can I help you return to the sky, Falco?”

When Jack leaves the shed, his brother Jim is waiting for him outside.

“What’s so interesting in the shed?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me the truth, Jack. I think you haven’t forgotten my broken rocket!”

Finally, Jack has no choice but to tell his brother the truth. Jim becomes very excited.

“Jim, please don’t say anything to Mum and Dad. I can repair your rocket.”

“My rocket isn’t important, Jack. But Falco is!”

Then the brothers discuss how to feed Falco. They decide to get help from their friend Holly because she knows a lot about animals, birds and nature. Later, the brothers go to Holly. Holly advises them to feed some meat to Falco.

Over the next few days, Falco gets much better. He always eats the meat Jack and Jim bring him from the kitchen. Jack even digs up worms in the park for Falco. Falco loves them! His feathers look bright and shiny, too. But he still can’t fly.

One morning, Holly comes to see Falco. After watching it for a while, Holly says, “Falco is well enough to fly again!” Hearing this, they happily open the door, and watch Falco step into the sunlight slowly. Falco beats his wings and tries to fly in small circles, then in large ones. Suddenly, he makes a loud cry and flies away. Jack feels a bit sad, but he knows they are right.

One evening, Jack and Jim are sitting in their room. It is a cool and quiet evening. Suddenly, he hears a cry from far away. A familiar (熟悉的) cry. A bird is flying in circles across the sky. It’s Falco! Jack watches it fly, happy and wild.

—Adapted from Jack’s Endless Summer