It's been like this

Once there was an owl. (It wasn't a guardian of Ga'Hoole. We've been reading a lot about those owls lately – but this is not one of them. This owl is not a warrior. He drinks tea.) Our tea-drinking owl lived in a hollow with an upstairs and a downstairs, both of which he liked equally.

"There must be a way," said Owl, "to be upstairs and to be downstairs at the same time."

"Perhaps if I run very very fast, I can be in both places at once." Owl ran up the stairs. "I am up," he said. Owl ran down the stairs. "I am down," he said.

Owl ran up and down the stairs faster and faster. ... "Faster, faster, faster!" cried Owl. Owl ran upstairs and downstairs all evening. But he could not be in both places at once.

"When I am up," said Owl, "I am not down. When I am down I am not up. All I am is very tired!" Owl sat down to rest. He sat on the tenth step because it was a place that was right in the middle.

Lobel, Arnold. Owl at Home. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1974, pp. 42-49.

I love this book. Owl is foolish but the stories are wise. Mine is a library copy; I think I need to own it!