Frankie was an ostrich. His mom was an ostrich, his 

dad was an ostrich and all of his brothers and sisters 

were ostriches, too. Frankie didn’t want to be an 

ostrich. He wanted to be a flamingo. He loved the way 

their pink feathers shone in the morning sun, and he 

loved the way that they stood on one leg to rest. He 

loved the grace, style and flamboyance of the 

flamingos. Oh, how he wished he had been born a 

flamingo. 

Once, when he was younger, his mom caught him trying 

to use red mud to color his feathers pink. “Franklin 

Oswald Ostrich, what on EARTH are you doing, son?” 

she squawked. 

    “Oh, Mom,” Frankie said “I just want my feathers to be 

pink like the flamingos!”

    His mom didn’t understand. “Frankie, you are an 

ostrich. You can’t be a flamingo, and no amount of mud 

is going to change that fact. You should love who you 

are, son, and never forget that we love you.” Then she 

sent him off to play with the other ostrich kids. 

She didn’t know that they were mean to him, or 

that they made fun of him. “Frankie Flamingo! 

Frankie Flamingo!” The other kids chanted. They 

chased him and teased him and Frankie was very, 

very sad. 

One day, Frankie decided to run away and join a 

flamingo flock.   “I just don’t fit in here.” Frankie 

thought. So, he set off in search of his destiny.

Before long, Frankie came across a young 

zebra. “Hi there.” He said in a friendly sort of 

way. “I’m Frankie, who are you?” 

    “I’m Chelsea” said the zebra. “What are you 

doing out here so far away from your flock, 

Frankie?”

    “I’m running away. My family doesn’t 

understand me. I want to be a flamingo."

Chelsea sighed. “I understand. I’m running away 

too. I don’t want to be a zebra anymore. I want to 

be a giraffe. They are so tall and graceful…I hate 

being so short. And STRIPES! Oh, don’t even get 

me started on the stripes! I want spots so 

bad….”Chelsea sighed. “I just don’t know what to 

do about it.”

    “Why don’t you come with me?” Frankie 

suggested “Maybe we can find a place together 

where we can be something different!”

    Chelsea agreed, and the two new friends set off  

to find a place where they could be different, 

together. 

A few days later, Frankie and Chelsea stopped 

by a beautiful lake to get a drink. Frankie's 

heart soared! There was a flock of beautiful, 

graceful flamingos there! 

"OH, LOOK!" he cried. "Flamingos!" He ran up 

to one and said shyly, "Excuse me, sir, but I 

was wondering if I may join your flock? I don't 

fit in back home, and I have always wanted to 

be a flamingo!"

The big flamingo looked down his beak at 

Frankie and laughed. "Absolutely not!" he said 

in a very mean voice. "You are NOT a 

flamingo. You do not look like us, you do not 

act like us. You are not one of us. Now, go 

away. You are scaring off my meal with your 

squawking!"

Frankie was crushed. He did not know what to 

do. His dream was gone.

Suddenly, Chelsea came running up. She had 

heard everything.