“But didn’t you say you were planning on a big family?” Jeremy asked her.

     “Yes,” she answered shyly. “And this will do just fine.”

     “Big families are trouble!” Tiny exclaimed as six of his thirteen squabbling brothers and sisters stuck their heads out from under Jeremy’s cap.

     “How many eggs will there be?” Jeremy asked curiously.

     “I don’t know yet,” Rosie told him.

     “When will you know?” Jeremy wanted to know.

     Rosie thought for a while then said, “Perhaps tomorrow morning.”  She crossed her wings in front of her stomach and lowered her head bashfully.

     “Tomorrow morning!” Jeremy replied excitedly.

     “Tomorrow!” all the little mice chimed in.

     “Tomorrow morning! Tomorrow morning! What’s happening tomorrow morning?     ”Marvin the mockingbird shouted in his high pitched voice as he landed on a branch beside Jeremy.

     “Rosie’s new family will be here,” Jeremy and the mice answered all at the same time.

***** *****

     Early next morning, even before the sun came up, Jeremy leaped out of bed, washed his teeth quick as a flash, then dashed out the back door. The sun was up. He had to get to the cherry tree and fast. Tiny the mouse and all of his brothers and sisters scurried along behind him as Jeremy ran past the chickens, the ducks, the sheep, and the cows. He was in a hurry to find out if Rosie’s eggs had arrived yet.

     “Marvin’s right,” the little mice squeaked in their high pitched little mice voices as they ran. “Today is the day. Let’s go!”

     Jeremy climbed the tree fast. “Good morning Rosie,” he said with a smile on his face.

     “Good morning Jeremy,” Rosie chirped.

     “I’m not too late am I?” he asked.

     “No, you’re not too late,” Rosie answered, then her eyes grew wide and she sighed excitedly, “Oh,” which was followed by an “Oh my,” and in no time at all her family had arrived.  Standing up, she craned her neck down into the nest and saw

     “How long until they hatch?” Jeremy asked.

     “Perhaps two weeks,” Rosie said, as she sat back down on the eggs and wiggled from side to side to settle herself over them to keep them warm.

     “Two weeks,” the little mice chimed.

     “Two weeks,” Marvin repeated as most mockingbirds do, “Two weeks. Two weeks,” then flew away to spread the news of Rosie’s eggs.

     Jeremy could hardly wait for Rosie’s eggs to hatch. Two weeks was a long time for a little boy. Each morning he ran out to the cherry tree with high hopes and each morning Rosie would say, “Not yet. Not today.”

     On a nearby branch Mr. Robin paced back and forth anxiously waiting for his children to arrive. And gathered in a circle at the base of the tree were the sheep, the cows, the ducks, the chickens, and even Gertie the groundhog gazing upward.

     Unable to keep quiet any longer Jeremy just had to ask, “Anything yet?”

     Then the other four eggs started rocking back and forth and the sound of more “pecking” filled the warm summer air. “Peck, peck, peck.”  Soon four more new baby robins tumbled out of their shells and then there were five.

     “There are five of them,” the mockingbird yelled down to the animals below.      

     “Five! Five! Five!”

     “Whoopee!” they all shouted as happy as could be.

     “They’re all naked!” Jeremy exclaimed as he gazed at the newborn robins with only a little tuft of soft down on the top of their heads. “But they’re beautiful!”

     “Thank you,” Rosie chirped happily.

     Mr. Robin had just flown off to find some big juicy worms for his freshly hatched brood when a strong gust of wind rocked the big tree. All at once, the sky grew dark with storm clouds and thunder shook the tree once more.

     “Jeremy!” he heard his mother’s voice. “Jeremy! Come in the house,” his mother insisted. Lightning flashed across the sky as the rain started to pour down.

     “Jeremy!” his mother called again as everyone ran for cover. But Jeremy didn’t want to leave Rosie and her babies. He tried to shield her from the pelting rain with his cap, but it was no use. They were getting soaked.

     And then he felt his mother pulling him out of the tree. “Hurry, we must get inside“ she shouted over the whistling of the wind.

     “But Mom!” Jeremy tried to explain. “Rosie and her babies will drown!”

     The yard around the house began to flood and the wind was so strong it howled like a wolf. Jeremy begged to go back to help Rosie, but his mother wouldn’t let him go. She just held tight to his hand until they were both safely inside the house.

     The storm raged throughout the night. Jeremy stared out through the window into the dark to where the cherry tree stood while the rain and the wind twisted and whipped the tree about like a feather. And through the darkness he could see Rosie with her wings spread across her babies. Even during the worst downpour, she wouldn’t leave them.

     Jeremy could see she was soaked clear through and tears welled up in his eyes. He was certain his friend Rosie couldn’t last through the night.

***** *****

     By morning, the storm had let up and as soon as he could Jeremy put his boots on and ran outside to the tree expecting to find his friend Rosie gone or worse.  But to his surprise, he found Rosie sitting where he had left her the night before.

     “Rosie, you’re alright,” he sighed with delight.

     “Well of course,” she chirped happily.

     “But the storm, Rosie, I thought for sure you were all goners last night.”

     “Nonsense child, we’re all fine. Look,” she said as she fluffed her feathers and stepped off the nest. Up popped five little heads as dry and warm as any newborns could hope to be.