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.
“Today is the day! Today is the day! Did you forget?” Marvin the
mockingbird squawked loudly from above as he circled over Jeremy’s
head.
“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
five light blue eggs laying
beneath her. "Five," she said to Jeremy. "There are five
eggs."
“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.”
And
then finally, the big day arrived. Jeremy waited quietly on
his favorite tree branch. Tiny the mouse and all his siblings peeked
out from beneath his cap with worried expressions on all their
little mouse faces. Marvin sat very still and was oddly silent
throughout the ordeal.
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?”
Mr. Robin stopped pacing for
a moment and looked hopefully at Rosie. But she shook her head from
side to side. “Nothing yet,” she replied. All of a sudden
Rosie jumped. Then she jumped again. She raised herself up off
the small blue eggs and hopped to the side of the nest. One of
the eggs was rocking back and forth. There was a faint pecking sound
coming from inside.
“Peck, peck, peck,” the sound got louder and louder. And then a
small crack ran through the shell and the tip of a baby robin’s beak
peeked through. “Peck, peck, peck,” the little bird kept
chipping away at the fragile shell and soon a naked little baby
robin fell out of the hole.
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.
