 
### The Adventures of White Robin

Published by Lee King at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Lee King

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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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This story is for my grandchildren.

Austin

Allie

Bradley

Maddox

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**(** Excerpt from)

### The Adventures of White Robin

**G** ranny Gray Squirrel scurried up the apple tree and sat next to White Robin. She peered over at Cindy, and then to Falcon Eddie and the scouts with her wise and knowing eyes.

White Robin looked to the lawn beside Drew's cabin and studied Dark Raven and Tar Raven performing the ancient crow ritual for the dearly departed. He turned to Rick's trailer, thinking of Levi.

"Why did He choose me, Granny?"

She glanced at Dark Raven and Tar Raven, then to Rick's trailer.

"No one knows how or why the Great Spirit chooses His leaders, little bird. But one thing is certain for sure; we are all blessed to have them."

### Chapter 1

It was late April, the second spring nesting season was nearly over, and still Lola Robin's nest was empty. She had weaved her nest with strings of Bermuda grass and limber twigs from a willow, around a five-fingered fork in an apple tree, and plastered it with a thick coat of gray clay. Even if a fierce wind blew the apple tree over, her nest would likely still be intact.

Lola Robin's kingdom was located in a one-traffic-light town in the Ozark Mountains near the northwest corner of Arkansas. The side street out front of Lola's apple tree was just a narrow lane. It started at the stop sign on Johnson Street at the top of the hill, slightly sloped past the apple orchard for three blocks, and dead-ended at a ranch house that was set on five acres of pasture land. On the south side of the apple orchard, the lady in the big house planted her vegetable garden. At the end of the garden, in the same direction the sun sets, there was an old barn. It had a rusty tin roof with faded red cypress planks on the sides. A small flock of pigeons lived in the rafters. They built ramshackle nests and made loud cooing noises all night long according to Lola and her best friend Granny Gray Squirrel. They slept most of the day and waited for the lady in the big house that faced Johnson Street to bring seeds and table scraps to the feeder box.

Lola did not believe in handouts; it was against robin creed. She worked very hard at finding her food—real food: worms and bugs. She could hear the baby pigeons constantly cheeping for food. She wished she could take a juicy red-worm over to them, but unlike the redbirds and the house sparrows, the pigeons would not permit such an act. They did not trust anyone.

On the other side of the narrow little side street a huge silver maple tree grew, midway between a cabin-house and an abandoned mobile home. Six kids could not link hands around the trunk. Midway up the tree, in a woodpecker hole, five tiny heads poked out for the first time.

"My goodness," Lola Robin squawked. "That's like having two litters in one! We're overrun with squirrels already."

"But aren't they adorable!" Granny Gray squirrel said, on her way past Lola Robin's nest. She was heading over there to visit her new grandbabies, running through the treetops almost as fast as Lola Robin could fly. If not for the white patch of hair between Granny Gray Squirrel's eyes Lola Robin might not know her from any other squirrel.

"You just make sure they stay out of my apple tree," Lola joked.

Granny Gray Squirrel looked over her shoulder at Lola. "Hush, Lola! You're just jealous because I have grandbabies and you still don't have any... Oh, I'm sorry! That came out all wrong."

Next door to the rancher's house at the end of the side street, a graying man named Rick lived in a singlewide mobile-home on a rise in the land at the back of his lot. Rick had a small backyard and a huge front yard. Rick and Drew could stand on their porches and holler to each other across the gulch.

Rick had adopted a pet crow, who he named Levi. Levi was free to come and go as he pleased. Levi had a unique talent. He could scream like a woman. His first words were, "Help me! Help me!"The whole kingdom would never forget the first time they heard those words screamed out from an abandoned mobile home down in the gulch between Rick and Drew's property, during the darkest hours of a cold, cold January night. Nor would they forget all the emergency vehicles, with their bright flashing lights, and the many officers searching the kingdom on foot with flashlights.

Just after the sun went down behind the old red barn where the pigeons lived, Granny Gray Squirrel told her grandbabies, "Go deep inside the den tree, cling to your momma, and don't be peeking out the door. A storm is coming, my babies." She hugged each one, then hurried to the top of the huge maple tree and began rustling the limbs and barking loudly. Other granny squirrels at the outer reaches of her signal did the same, and so on, probably throughout the whole region. Satisfied that her warning had gotten through, Granny Gray took off across the treetops, heading for her summer home in a large holly bush that had grown almost as big as the courthouse Christmas tree.

Granny Gray's nest was every bit as sturdy as Lola Robin's nest, even though it was designed differently. It was round and big as a jack-o-lantern pumpkin, with a small hole at the bottom for an entrance. She had crafted her nest from sticks and twigs, then thatched it expertly well with oak and sycamore leaves. She designed it to allow cool air to pass through it, but also keep the rain out. And since Lola could hear an earthworm crawling through dry grass up to thirty feet away, Granny's nest was just close enough for Lola Robin to hear her snore, and Lola took great comfort in that sound. As she passed Lola's nest Granny barked, "Keep your feathers tucked in tight and dig your claws in deep Lola. There's a terrible storm heading our way."

"Thank you for worrying about me, Granny Gray. But I knew a terrible storm was heading our way long before you did."

"I know you did," Granny said. "I could see it in your eyes. Get some sleep, you delightful ole bird. We may have rocky times in store for us before the sun comes up tomorrow."

"Indeed we may! Good night, Granny Gray Squirrel."

"Goodnight, Lola Robin."

### Chapter 2

The storm stalled at the foot of the western Ozarks in Oklahoma's tornado alley and waited for several smaller storms to join it. At daybreak the monster storm advanced east like General Sherman's army, destroying everything in its path. Daylight was coming in from the east, and a huge black cloud like nighttime returning was closing in on the kingdom from the west.

Drew had seen the weather report on TV. He was standing on his front porch, watching the sky for funnel tails. He could feel the voltage building up for a lightning strike. Just then a lightning bolt struck the giant maple tree where Clara and her baby squirrels lived. The explosion nearly knocked Drew off his feet, and the percussion shattered the windows on that side of the cabin-house. It broke the giant tree in half; well below the woodpecker hole where Clara had made her home. The top half crashed in a splintered heap on Drew's lawn.

Rick came running down the side street, carrying Levi in a birdcage. "The weatherman said a twister is on the ground and headed straight for us, Drew!"

"I know," Drew said calmly, and pointed to the western sky. "It's not on the ground. The funnel is leaping across the trees, looking for open land to travel on."

"We've got to find shelter!"

"Go get Grandma Hokum and take her to the storm cellar. Hurry!"

"What about you?"

"I have to get Rudy," Drew said. "I'll be there before you can get the door open."

Just then a wave of water hit them. The wall cloud dumped rain so heavy they could hardly see their hand in front of their face. One of the big walnut trees across the street near the rear corner of the big house started going over, straight toward Drew's cabin. Rick dropped Levi, spun around, then dove and tackled Drew to the ground. The huge walnut tree toppled across the highline wires and snapped them off at the pole. The wires slashed through the air just above Rick and Drew like a General's sword. If Rick had not tackled Drew when he did they might have been cut in half. The tip of the walnut tree landed on Drew's front porch.

"What about your sister in the big house?" Drew yelled.

"She's at her lake house," Rick screamed.

In the howling storm their words sounded as though they were echoing through the culvert pipe under the side street.

Over in the apple orchard, the trees were being whipped wildly. Granny Gray leaped from her nest just after the lightening bolt hit the giant maple tree.

Lola had jumped out of her nest when the first big winds hit and was huddled under Granny's holly tree, trying to avoid the downpour as much as possible.

"Where are you going Granny—you get back here!

"I have to see about my grandbabies!"

"It's too dangerous, Granny. You could get swept away! You know that yard floods every time it rains. Stay here with me!"

"Go to the hedge bushes beside the big house, Lola. The house will block the wind. Hurry."

"I can't even see the bushes through all this rain," Lola squawked.

"Go by your sense of direction and cry for help. The sparrows and the red birds will hear you and guide you to the hedges. Go, Lola, go now!"

Like Granny said, the sparrows came out of the hedges when they heard Lola's frantic clucking. "Come with us, Lola, hurry!" They all hunkered low and scurried over to the hedge bushes, guided by the redbirds' loud clicking sounds.

The old red barn where the pigeons lived groaned and creaked as if in terrible pain. Loose sheets of tin were banging loudly. Suddenly the roof tore loose from the barn, and then the sides collapsed. Then the whole barn was lifted into the sky. The tornado carried it right over the apple orchard, across the side street, over the top of Drew's cabin, and dropped it on the vacant lot near the next street over, behind the cabin. If the giant maple tree had not broken in half it would have been crashed into, head on by the barn.

After Granny made it to the Maple tree she set about searching worriedly. She checked inside the den hole; it was empty, just as she feared. But it was still a safe place, high above the floodwater. Granny grabbed a half-drowned baby squirrel that was clinging to a tree limb and headed for the den. On the way she passed another baby squirrel. He grabbed at her legs, pleading for her to help him. He was coughing and blowing blood-bubbles out of his nose. Granny was standing on her hind legs, and the water was already up to her belly and rising fast. She pulled and pulled, but she could not free the squirrel. The trapped little fellow was pinned under a tree branch.

Granny quickly ran over and deposited the squirrel she had in her mouth in the den, then raced back to save the trapped squirrel. In the monsoon rain she could barely see. Granny forged ahead on instinct, battling the fierce wind struggling to keep her footing on the tree branches. Like a butterfly or a moth to a flower, she focused on her target point and willed herself to get there.

The waters had risen and Drew's backyard had turned into a raging river. By now the trapped squirrel's head was completely under water... and just a short moment later, he stopped struggling and went limp in Granny Gray's hands.

Clara, the momma squirrel, was injured badly. She had many broken ribs and was wheezing for air. She was barely clinging to a tree limb with one hand; the raging water was up to her chin. She was too weak to even wheeze out a cry for help. Granny jumped onto the main tree limb and zoomed over to Clara. She reached out and grabbed her by the ear just as the raging water tore Clara's grip loose. Granny pulled her onto the limb and fixed her safely in a fork.

"Stay here, Clara. I'll come back for you!"

The squall line passed, and the torrential rain simmered down to a drizzle. Granny had scoured the whole area many times. After a long while of searching she was totally exhausted and had used up almost all of her hope and prayers. Out of five grandbabies only one and his badly injured momma had made it through the storm. Granny Gray Squirrel looked to the sky, shook her fist, and screamed, "Why, Great Spirit! Why did you let this happen to my family?" She put her head in her hands and cried.

Just then Granny heard a "cheep cheep" coming from a ball of straw over by Drew's cabin on a spot of high ground. She rushed through the downed tree limbs to check it out. She peeled back the straw and found a bewildered little pigeon inside. He had pure white plumage; a fledgling just a day or two away from testing his wings.

"Hey there, little bird, are you all right?"

"You're not my momma?"

"I think maybe she might have been carried off in the storm," Granny uttered softly.

"Well," he screamed, "when is my momma coming back?"

"I can't say, honey. I don't know. But one thing is certain for sure, and that is you are a very lucky little pigeon."

Panic overcame him as he realized that the barn was missing and he was in a strange place, talking to a stranger. The young pigeon cried, "What am I supposed to do without my momma?"

"You will find your flock, learn their ways to the fullest, and become a leader! During tragedies like this we need many leaders!"

"But I don't even know how to fly yet."

"Don't worry none to much about that, little bird, I know a good teacher. Her name is Lola Robin. Do you have a name?"

"What's a name?"

Granny remembered that pigeons usually do not give names to their young. Pigeons usually acquired names after their personalities were developed.

"Since you have feathers white as apple blossoms and will be staying with my friend Lola Robin in the apple tree, I shall call you White Robin," she said. "Lola is a very proud and responsible robin. Everyone in these parts holds her in high regard. Likewise, I pray, the same goes for me. They call me Granny Gray."

"Are you a squirrel?"

"Yes!"

"Momma says squirrels are not to be feared."

"Your momma is right. I have known her since she was about your age. I met her at the birdfeeders. She is the only white pigeon in these parts; that is how I know she's your momma."

"Did you name her Savanna?"

"Yes, I will explain that later; we must hurry now. There is much emergency work still to do."

Granny scooped him up in one arm and hobbled on three legs, but mostly on her hind legs, wrestling the young pigeon through Drew's soggy yard. She struggled with him like a raccoon dragging a stolen bag of groceries to its home. Suddenly she realized something.

"Hey, you've got legs, you can walk."

"I never said I couldn't walk," the young pigeon chirped.

"Don't mock me, boy! I'm saving your life! On the ground you are same as food left on a picnic table!" Granny stood him up and nudged him on across the side street over to the apple orchard.

From the base, Granny looked up Lola's apple tree to her nest, shaking her head. Thank goodness the nest was only head high to a tall horse. She hooked her arm under the little pigeon's wing and around his neck, then lugged White Robin up the apple tree. She rolled the plump orphan into Lola's nest. The cup of the nest was about the same size as a box-turtle's shell and he filled it to the rim. He landed on his back and stayed that way, facing the sky, crying—thinking about his momma and his friends...wondering if he would ever see them again.

He was Savanna's only baby, and Granny was the only furry critter she'd told. Savanna's momma had advised her to do so; for Granny was one of the blessed animals, like raccoons, who could use her feet as hands, and squirrels are gentle creatures, and about the only fur-bearing animals in the kingdom that didn't rouse the pigeons' fears while they ate at the birdfeeders. Therefore, if ever White Robin fell out of the nest, Savanna could alert Granny, who would go gather him in her hands and return him to his nest promptly.

Granny Gray stripped bunches of leaves off a handful of small branches and spread them over White Robin, then tucked them in like a blanket.

"I have to go get my family, White Robin. Lola will be here shortly, so stay put."

Granny Gray dashed back over to the huge maple tree. She got the baby squirrel out of the den hole first, clenched him in her mouth, then went over and grasped Clara under her arm. She eased them across the yard gently.

Granny knew from the heavy wheezing that every small step caused excruciating pain for Clara, the momma squirrel.

Their trembling claws scratched and slipped as they hobbled across the wet side street pavement. Granny gained a second wind at the wonderful sight of her warm and dry summer home, still intact, in her beautiful old holly tree. Like all grannies, she had a little cubbyhole filled with nice treats: sunflower seeds from the birdfeeders, and shelled pecans and walnuts wrapped up in a sycamore leaf, all waiting for them.

### Chapter 3

"How did you get in my nest, little pigeon?" Lola Robin had returned to her nest just shortly after Granny Gray had left.

"Granny Gray Squirrel found me on the ground and brought me here."

Lola jerked her head to the hay bales where the barn used to be. She slowly craned around and looked at the baby pigeon in her nest. Great Spirit in heaven! He's an orphan. She wrapped her wings around him. "Are you all right?"

"Yes ma'am, as far as I can tell."

"Are you hungry?"

"No ma'am."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Are you Lola Robin?"

"Yes, young pigeon! Yes, I am."

"Will you go see where the barn went and look for my momma? Her name is Savanna; she has feathers all the same as mine."

"Yes, I will go now, little pigeon. Stay here. It may take some time. You are welcome to stay here as long as you like."

******

Shortly after Granny got the displaced squirrels settled into her summer home, she stuffed her jowls with sunflower seeds the way chipmunks do and headed over to feed them to White Robin.

White Robin did not want the sunflower seeds Granny offered. He just stared out at the hay bales where the barn used to be, where his momma and the older pigeons used to dance and whirl around on the hay bales in front of him and the other baby pigeons; like the people had done at the hootenanny that was held in the barn a week before. Granny shelled a dozen sunflower seeds and piled them at White Robin's feet. Please Great Spirit; please bring his momma home safe. We need her.

"I have to go tend to my family, White Robin, but I'll be back as quickly as I can."

******

Over at Grandma Hokum's house, Drew opened the cellar door and peered out. "It's safe to come out now, Miss Hokum."

He led Grandma Hokum up the steps and the few feet to her back door, and saw her safely inside. He returned to where Rick was standing in the yard. "We should canvass the neighborhood and see if anyone needs our help."

Rick let Levi out of his cage. Levi was terrified of lightning. He'd get in his cage and close the door whenever he heard or saw lightning. "Go scout the area, Levi, and report back to us if anyone needs help."Levi took to the air like a seasoned veteran delivering disaster assistance.

"The storm wiped out your sister's barn," Drew said. "But your place and mine are still standing."

"Then we were lucky," Rick said. "It probably jumped right over us."

### Chapter 4

Her ears were much better than her eyes, so Lola flew low, just higher than ripe corn in a kitchen garden. She was heading for a crumpled up pile of tin and timber, all that remained of the old barn, lying behind Drew's cabin in the vacant lots near the next street over.

Levi flew up treetop high, heading over to the hay bales where the barn used to be. "Caw, caw, caw," calling his crow buddies to assemble. Six crows flew out of the cedar tree that was growing on the fence line where the honeysuckle and possum-vines had grown out of control in the back corner of Rick's yard. The crows formed rank on the hay bales and stood at attention. Levi landed and paced back and forth in front of his recruits; he was thinking up a plan.

"At ease, troops," he finally said. "We've got work to do! We're searching for storm victims. I want three of you on my left flank and three on my right flank, a power-pole length apart. Make lots of noise so they can hear us looking for them. Now take off and fan out."

The duty-call took place earshot away from Lola Robin's nest. It caused a new sense of hope and pride to well up in White Robin.

As he watched the ceremony, Granny Gray squirrel's words reeled through his mind like a calling. He knew right then what she had meant, and he wanted to make a difference in his kingdom, and to be a leader like Levi, that big black bird with a shiny thing on his leg.

******

Levi and his band of part-time outlaws traced the storm's path from the hay bales, through the apple orchard, over the vegetable garden, caw, caw, cawing, on across the side street and all throughout the huge maple tree lying on the ground, in Drew's yard. The floodwater had pretty much drained away, down through the gulch, leaving behind the four baby squirrels. Two were washed up against the chain link fence between Drew's cabin and the abandoned mobile home down, in the gulch. The other two were crushed under tree branches. Sadly, none were alive.

Levi and his troopers flew onward, and then converged on the spot where the barn roof had dropped like a piece of crumpled up tinfoil. Like Lola Robin, Levi hung his head in dismay; for they had found several deceased baby pigeons and a couple of adults, but no sign of Savanna or any other pigeons.

### Chapter 5

Down in the Arkansas River Valley, fifty miles south of White Robin, Savanna and the remainder of her flock of fewer than a dozen pigeons were being nursed by another flock of pigeons. The funnel cloud had carried them over the mountains and the National Forest where the big woods were, and dropped them in the valley at an old grain elevator and a really old water tower, next to a retired railroad track. The faded lettering on the water tower read, "Junction Pass."

The pigeons were battered and confused from twirling and tumbling around in the huge funnel cloud. It was like being put in a giant garbage can full of scrap-junk and pieces of lumber and rolled down a hill. They didn't even know where they were, much less where their homeland was.

A young cinnamon-colored pigeon with white wings named Cindy took to Savanna and stayed by her side constantly.

"I must find my baby! He cannot yet fend for himself," Savanna cried over and over from her sick bed. "He needs me."

"You need to regain your strength and your memory first, Savanna. You hit something sharp and got a big gash on your head. You're lucky your brains didn't fall out," said Cindy Cinnamon.

Cindy was an orphan and had had to learn to fly and fend for herself two weeks earlier than a normal pigeon cycle of growing up.

"I will look for him until I find him," she promised Savanna. "Like I learned from my own momma before the sickness took her, I sense through you that he is well and safe. Rest assured, Savanna, I will find him and reunite him with you."

Savanna kept her spirits up by bragging that her rare baby boy was white as the cloud the Great Spirit rides on. "Like an angel, he's a natural born leader-to-be," Savanna boasted.

Each time Savanna spoke of her baby boy Cindy Cinnamon became that much more fascinated with him; a pure white pigeon. She had never seen one. But legend had it that just like cinnamon pigeons with white wings like hers; pure white pigeons were very special. Cindy pondered seriously about all the tribulations she had in common with the pigeon.

Somewhat like the dove who returned to Noah with the olive branch after the great flood, Cindy clenched a sunflower seed in her beak for luck, and struck out to look for a pure white pigeon, her same age. She circled the radius of her kingdom, broadening the circle a little more with each trip. Although she was growing weary, young Cindy Cinnamon was not a quitter.

Fearing the doldrums of doubt might creep in and dampen her fortitude, Cindy went to see the wise elders and seek their guidance. After she told them of her ambitious quest, they explained to her that the storm had blown in over the mountains and through their valley from the north. Therefore, she should enlist the help of some fellow pigeons and search the small towns and farms along the railroad tracks north of their river valley kingdom. "Talk to the crows," the leader advised her. "They roam far and wide all throughout the region, and they like to spread stories of mayhem and mysteries everywhere they go. And a whole flock of pigeons being sucked up into the sky and disappearing will be a very big story for many generations to come."

### Chapter 6

Unlike robins, crow eyes are far better than their ears, so Levi and his troopers flew higher than the tall sycamore tree in their kingdom. They spread out to create a line formation, as Levi had instructed them earlier. They followed the tornado's path for six miles east, all the way to the Interstate Highway. There the damage had ended, so Levi reasoned that was where the twister had played out and gone back into the clouds.

He decided to call off the search and dismiss his troopers. As he was heading back to Rick's house he chanced upon Lola flying low, a few feet from the ground. He flew down to give her a report and tell her that she may as well turn back. He said the pigeons were probably carried over the mountains and dropped in the river valley.

"That's where the southbound storms usually break up and fade away. Don't loss faith, Lola. Some may even find their way back home," Levi said.

Lola shook her head sadly, then turned around and headed for home.

******

Lola stopped by the woodpile under the mulberry tree at the front corner of Drew's yard. She scratched up a red-worm from under the moist and rotten leaves, then glanced across the side street to her nest. _What in the world is that young pigeon doing?_

White Robin was flapping his wings wildly and hopping from limb to limb all through the apple tree. To Lola it looked like he was fighting off a bumblebee. He was practicing to fly so hard that he didn't notice Lola land by the nest with a worm in her beak.

Lola clutched the worm with her claws and said, "Surely with all that practicing you've worked up an appetite, little bird? I brought you some lunch." She held the worm in her beak and wiped the dirt off it with her foot.

White Robin was starving. He had already eaten the sunflower seeds Granny Gray had left for him. He hopped over to Lola's nest, crawled into it, closed his eyes, puffed up his feathers, and opened his mouth wide, the way young pouter pigeons do at feeding time.

Lola jammed the wiggling red-worm way down in White Robin's throat and held it there until the young pigeon swallowed it. He gagged, and hacked, and coughed.

"What was that nasty thing?" he yelled.

"Don't raise your voice to me, little pouter bird. It was a red-worm; they're rich in vitamins. You need food like that to build lean and strong wings. The oily seeds that you're accustomed to only make you fat and lazy; if you really want to grow strong quickly and be able to fly through the eye of a storm, and do backward somersaults and roll-outs in mid-air like your cousins, the famous tumbler pigeons in the circus, do, then you must acquire a taste for grasshoppers, crickets, and worms."

"Looks like I'll have to, or go hungry," he grumbled.

"Long ago when the big house was first built," Lola said, "the owner raised tumbler pigeons and trained them to entertain his guests. After he left this world, his family donated the most talented pigeons to a traveling circus from Savanna. The others were turned loose. Granny Gray named your momma Savanna after the most famous circus pigeon in the world—she was your great-grandmother."

"Do you have any news about my momma?"

"I will not stand for you ignoring your family history."

"I'm sorry, Lola Robin. I guess I'm still blank from all that has happened. I can't seem to think straight through a single thought."

"I understand. I am not experienced in this area either, little bird." In fact Lola was mortified to have to tell White Robin the bad news; but he already knew why she was stalling. Why else would she come back alone?

"I have no news for you," she said at last. "But I believe with all my heart that Savanna is well and trying to make her way back home to you. In the meantime, you are my responsibility until she returns.

"Now, if you will excuse me for a while, I'll let you get back to your practicing. I have to go see how Granny Gray Squirrel and her family are doing. And then I have to check on Muumuu."

Levi was sitting high up in the tall sycamore tree, eating leftovers from a ham sandwich that his master, Rick, had given him. He studied the woebegone little orphan awkwardly hopping around in the apple tree. Levi dropped the bread from his sandwich to the sparrows on the ground, then sailed down to the apple tree one row over from White Robin.

"Caw, caw, caw! Get over here, squab. I want a word with you!"

His loud and commanding voice spooked White Robin. "I can't make it that far!"

"Sure you can! Go to the top of your tree and spread your wings out wide, like this." Levi showed him how to hold his wings out. "And jump!"

"But, but—I can't make it over there. It's too far."

"No fear, boy! Man up to it!" Levi had heard his master Rick say that to his grandson many times.

White Robin hopped up to the top of Lola's apple tree and peered over and down at Levi perched in the other tree. He was terrified. If he missed the branch where Levi stood then he would crash to the ground, and Granny Gray was not around to help him this time.

"Jump squab!" called Levi.

He spread his wings wide, pushed his fear down to his trembling legs, and jumped.

"Keep your eyes open and look straight at me," Levi cawed.

It was a reckless and wobbly flight. It reminded Levi of the first time Rick took the training wheels off his grandson's bicycle. Levi cringed and squint his eyes, then and now, as White Robin approached his limb. Just before he reached Levi's branch, Levi extended his wing out and stopped White Robin from overshooting the limb.

"I did it! I did it! I can fly now!"

"You did fair, squab. Flying comes as natural to a bird as swimming underwater does to a rabbit. They don't believe they can do it till after they done did it. Give it a day or two and you'll be flying better than any land-loving robin ever could." White Robin beamed with pride.

"They call me Levi," said the big burly crow. "I keep the peace in these parts. This is my badge." He dangled his leg out to show off his shiny I.D. bracelet. "I can talk to people. They took me into a big white room with bright lights, placed me on a shiny table, put me to sleep, then cut my tongue down the middle like a snake's. Now I can talk like they do. If a dangerous outlaw goes on a tear, I tell the people, they get their guns, and the problem gets solved. What does Granny Gray call you, squab?"

"Granny Gray Squirrel named me White Robin. Lola Robin said I am the great-grandson of the first Savanna, the most famous circus pigeon in the world!"

"Granny Gray and Lola Robin are well known for planting high ideas in the minds of orphans, son. I guess if their way of thinking worked on me, then it most likely will work on you. You're the luckiest little squab I've ever seen. Pigeons are like starlings; if their babies fall from the nest before they can fly, they leave them for the scavengers."

"You shut up! My momma ain't like that."

"I ain't saying she never cared, squab. They're just helpless to save their babies when that happens."

"My momma is different! She wouldn't let that happen!"

"Don't ever doubt how you feel inside, son! We all need something to believe in. It's what keeps us kicking. I'm just checking on what all the fuss over a white-feathered little squab is about; I'm inclined to believe the Great Spirit is up to something here. Like a test. I for one don't want to miss out on any free pies and redemption that might happen to stray into my kingdom." Levi had heard Rick say that whenever the church folks came around offering him free pies and redemption if he'd visit their church.

Levi wasn't sure what redemption was. He assumed it was refreshments, like sweet tea or lemonade or what comes in those soft aluminum cans that Rick drank from. Either way, he sure as heck loved the pies those people doled out.

"I'm heading down to the Little Illinois directly to shoot the breeze with my cousin Dark Raven," Levi told the little pigeon. "He's the leader of all the corvine cavalcades this side of the big woods. They travel across the land far and wide and will pass the news that you are still kicking. If your momma is out there, the news will find her in swift time. If she hasn't already started on a new family, then she might even be happy to hear that you're still hanging around."

"Big black bird, you won't talk to me like that when I get grown, else I'll—"

"You'd best get a handle on that temper, squab!" Levi laughed. "It'll get you in big trouble! What I mean to say is, you're just a day or two from getting booted out of the nest, and then she won't have any more to do with you from then on. But don't fret it, squab. As pretty as you are, you'll find a girlfriend or she'll find you, and together ya'll fill that sore and empty place in your chest back up to where it was when ya'll lived with momma. I only know your momma in passing, son. She's the brightest-looking thing to ever come out of that flock of culls. Look to the top of that tall sycamore tree. See that old eagle's nest?" He cocked his head toward a nest at least a hundred and fifty feet up.

White Robin was still seething. "Yes," he bellowed.

"Look closer, and aim that nasty temper at those hungry eyes, and not me! I'm here to 'help' you, son!"

White Robin narrowed his eyes and looked closer. As good as Levi's vision was, White Robin's was three times better. He froze in terror at what he discovered up there.

A pair of beady eyes was peering down at him, over a sharp hooked beak that was resting on the rim of the nest.

"That's a red-tailed ladyhawk," Levi said. "She's got two hungry babies, and their favorite snack is little squabs like you. She can't even build her own nest, let alone feed her babies. She's right now thinking about how she can snatch you out of Lola's nest when no one's looking and get away with it. Your keen eyes are your best defense, squab. Now fly back to Lola's apple tree and practice your circus tricks, and always keep an eye on the sky."

Levi plucked a feather from White Robin's head, then raked him off the branch they were perched on.

"Hey! That ain't funny!" The little fledgling flapped his wings frantically and to his own surprise he made it back over to Lola's apple tree, all the while cutting his eyes up the tall sycamore at the ladyhawk.

"Caw, caw, caw!" Levi laughed. "I get a kick out of your temper, squab. It reminds me of me. Back when I wasn't so _dadblame_ sweet and hospitable."

The rogue leader set out for the old mill-dam at the edge of the big woods, where many streams and creeks merged together to form the Illinois River; where a giant crow named Dark Raven and his cavalcade of corvine crows were camped.

### Chapter 7

Across the side street at the corner house, Grandma Hokum was outside fussing and cussing around in her garden. The storm had flattened her tomato starts and washed out her squash mounds. She was mad enough to kick a cat.

Meantime, over next to the fence between Drew's cabin and her garden, where a double row of railroad ties had been installed to stop washouts from cutting trenches across Drew's yard, a six-foot long chicken-snake—also known as a blue racer, because they can run faster than a man—was slinking along the railroad ties. Drew called him Ole Blue. He passed through Drew's yard every spring, heading for the Twin Creeks to find his girlfriend. At the moment he was sneaking into Grandma Hokum's chicken coop. She owned six Rhode Island Reds that laid one egg each, daily. Punctual as the noontime sawmill whistle. Same time every day, they'd cluck and carry on real loud, mostly to remind folks of what an important job they had.

"Feeding the people."

Ole Blue entered the chicken coop at the rear, through a knothole in a floor plank. All but one chicken probably halfway finished with her business, jumped off their nests and ran outside. Ole Blue dislocated his jaw joints, gobbled down two eggs then cast his eyes at the chicken that was still sitting on her nest. He stuck out his forked tongue at her and hissed. She jumped up, flapping her wings and clucking hysterically, and ran out through the doggy door.

Ole Blue thought that was funny; he loved to spook the chickens. It reminded him of when he was young and full of vigor; when just the sight of him made the young hens faint.

Two large eggs was more food than Ole Blue had eaten all winter long. In fact he was so skinny from being in hibernation that the shape of the eggs he had just swallowed bulged from his long skinny body.

Even a fool knows what hysterical chickens rushing out of a coop at laying time means. But Ole Blue craved just one more egg, badly enough to risk his life to get it. He was wolfing down the last egg and had just gotten it past his dislocated jaw joints when the front door of the chicken coop swung open. " _Ahhhh!_ " Ole Blue screamed inside his head.

Grandma Hokum loomed in the doorway wielding a hoe. "You egg-sucking slimy varmint!" she shouted. "I've been after you for years. I'm going to chop your worthless hide to pieces and use it to fertilize my tomato plants."

Ole Blue rushed to the knothole where he had entered the coop, but now he couldn't get out that way. The eggs in his belly wouldn't squeeze through the hole. He slithered behind some mason jars on the floor. Grandma Hokum reared the hoe back as if she was swinging a golf club. Ole Blue stayed coiled in the corner, peering through the glass jars at her and thinking, _This is it. I'm gone. Please forgive me of my sins, Great Spirit_.

Grandma Hokum busted the light bulb in the fixture above her head and got the hoe hung up on the tiny chain that worked the pull switch. It was the break Ole Blue needed. When she squinted up at the light to see what had happened, Ole Blue leaped between her legs, the whole length of the chicken coop, and landed outside the front door. That was the greatest leap Ole Blue had ever accomplished; it filled his spirit high with vigor and confidence.

Grandma Hokum dropped the hoe and rushed out after him.

Ole Blue was already across the driveway and barreling around Drew's cabin for the home stretch. Grandma Hokum stopped in the driveway, scooped up a handful of rocks, and flung them one at a time at the wily Ole chicken snake.

Ole Blue raced toward the woodpile under the mulberry tree. The rocks were landing in Drew's yard, several feet behind him. A couple of feet from the safety of the woodpile, way across the yard from Grandma Hokum, Ole Blue thought he was home free. He stopped and reared around to run his tongue out at Grandma Hokum, _nyah, nyah, nyah, you missed me!_ Just then a well thrown rock, the size of a green walnut, hit him at the place where he went pooh. Ow! You wicked ole sow! You broke my butt bone. Now I can't go pooh for a month!

Smack! Another rock struck Ole Blue where the last egg was still lodged in his throat, just past his jaw joints, and smashed the egg. _OWWWH!_

With his head pounding, and with his tail end broken at his butt bone and pointing out sideways, Ole Blue leaped forward, tunneled deep through the woodpile, and slithered down a rat hole.

White Robin watched the whole drama unfold from Lola's nest, quaking with fright. He imagined Ole Blue must be the famous blue ghost that his momma and the elders said could climb straight up a barn wall at night and steal baby pigeons from a nest without even waking their momma, and disappear on a fresh mowed lawn right before your eyes, even in broad daylight.

With Ole Blue lurking nearby, and that momma hawk watching his every move, White Robin decided it might be best for him to sleep with one eye open for the rest of his life.

### Chapter 8

On the south side of the big woods, down in the Arkansas River valley, young Cindy Cinnamon and two adolescent purple-headed pigeons with red-rimmed eyes, headed up the old scenic highway.

They spent time asking around at the first town they came to. No one there had ever heard of a tornado picking up a whole flock of pigeons and carrying them off. But one old geezer pigeon said that when he was a boy a tornado flattened his Texas town and blew people and livestock all the way to Kansas. He told of a baby being found in the top of an oak tree, still napping in his crib, without a scratch on him, and since pigeons could fly smarter than any bird on the planet, well then, they'd be far more likely to pull through a little podunk tornado like the ones that hit Arkan—.

"This is not Texas," Cindy bellowed to the batty old coot. "And I will not permit you to start a fever of doubt amongst my scouts."

Two adventure-seeking pigeons from the old geezers flock—impressed with Cindy's grit and maybe a tad bit smitten with her exotic cinnamon feathers—asked if they could travel with Cindy and her scouts and see some country.

"Well then, scouts," Cindy cooed to her group of loyal followers. "We will go to the next town. If we don't have any luck there, then we'll find some friendly pigeons who will feed us and put us up for the night. Then we can get a fresh start in the morning. Failure is not an option, guys. Our fellow pigeons are counting on us to find their homeland, so they can go back and rebuild their lives."

Cindy clenched a sunflower seed in her beak for luck, and the five of them flew up above the trees and followed the old highway north, to the next one-church town.

Savanna and the other pigeons had described a particular one-church town on a two-lane blacktop road to Cindy Cinnamon—their hometown. They said it was near where many creeks and streams came together to form a river. And, they added, there wasn't any railroad track in or near their town, but the big shiny birds that carried people flew in and out of a very large place that had been built near their one-church town.

### Chapter 9

White Robin was tired from all his practicing, so he hopped over to Lola's nest and climbed inside. He hunkered down in it as low as he could, with just his eyes showing over the rim. He needed a nap but he was afraid to take one.

After a while he became groggy, and was drifting in and out of sleep, when suddenly he heard claws scratching on the tree near the ground. He screamed, leaped out of Lola's nest, hopped to the top of the apple tree, and climbed out on the little branches.

"It's me! Granny Gray Squirrel! I didn't mean to frighten you. I brought you more seeds. I've been watching you from my holly tree. I thought you might be hungry from all that practicing. Now come down here and sit with me."

Granny Gray climbed on up and emptied the seeds in her overstuffed jowls into Lola's nest.

White Robin sailed down to the nest. He was so happy to see a friendly face that he wrapped his wings around Granny's neck and hugged her.

"I saw you talking to Levi and looking up the sycamore tree. Was he warning you about the ladyhawk?"

White Robin looked up at the eagle nest and nodded his head.

"She's young and she comes from the big woods and she wasn't raised well; this is her first brood. Like Levi says, I fear she may become desperate to feed her babies and cannot be trusted. Even so, she has other troubles to consider. The others live in the top of that giant pine tree in front of the big house. They are much larger than the ladyhawk and strong as an eagle. If the ladyhawk breaks the unspoken rule, they will destroy her babies and drive her from the kingdom. But do not fear them, little bird. They only come out at night. And they don't hunt food where they live. That's the unspoken rule. Levi's people-friends call them Great Horned Owls. Their voices are loud and spooky, and the owl families they talk to can be heard from very far away."

"Spooky like Levi's voice?" White Robin asked.

"Much more spooky," Granny said. "They go 'Who, Who, Who,' then wait till they hear their friends go 'Who, Who, Who,' and then they talk back and forth for a long time, in an old forgotten language that only owls can understand."

"I heard them just before the storm came," White Robin said. He jerked his head around and scanned the dark shadows at the top of the pine tree. "I see them. They're huge, and they have really big eyes, and they're watching us."

"Like the Great Spirit," Granny said."I believe they are watching over us."

"Is Levi afraid of them?" White Robin asked.

"No," Granny said. "Levi only fears cats and lightning! Levi and his gang gave the owls a lot of trouble when he was younger, but lately he has earned their respect. Levi is a rare leader. After all, he is a crow, and he has to work harder than anyone else to earn his respect in our kingdom. You would not be wrong to trust him, White Robin."

"If he wants me to trust him, then why was he so mean to me? I owe him a whooping, and I already promised him when I get grown, he's going to get it!"

Granny laughed. "Levi got your temper going for a reason, little bird. He was building courage in you, so you'll seem bold and prepared in the face of danger, and not be squeamish and weak-looking. Predators always go after the squeamish and weak. He gave you his time. And he truly wants to help you find your momma. I've never seen him do that with any orphan."

"He said something about getting free pies and redemption."

Granny laughed again. "He's not helping you to get free food, little bird. Levi eats better than all of us. That's just his way of holding your long-time thinking, so you won't soon forget what he said."

"But he's a leader. Momma says it's a leader's duty to help the needy."

"It's not easy being a crow," Granny uttered under her breath."They're looked upon as outlaws and thieves. Levi and his crow buddies used to steal baby pigeons and throw loud parties, then eat them. That was before he got captured and left the gang. The man put that shiny thing on Levi's leg...to mark him as property. That man was evil. Many bad things happened over there. He would sit out in his yard and kill anything that wandered onto his property, even dogs and cats. He killed May, the momma woodchuck and her three babies who lived under his tool shed. Nothing will grow over there. All the trees died, and the vines and weeds took over the place. I think the man mistreated Levi till it broke his spirit. He never let Levi out of his cage. Levi still claims to be livestock. He became a leader when the man they call Rick, in that home next door, took him in and let him roam free. He even taught Levi to talk like people do."

"Is there anything around here that doesn't eat baby pigeons?"

Granny furrowed her brow at his indifference to her story, "You're a robin for now. Nothing messes with a robin."

"I saw a blue ghost go into the wood pile!" White Robin said.

"I saw him too, little bird. My eyes may be no match for yours, but they don't miss much. Levi and his people friends call that silly fool Ole Blue, the chicken snake. You need not worry much about him. He's too old to climb trees and raid bird nests like he used to. Besides, you're too big for him to swallow."

Granny looked to the woodpile where Ole Blue was hiding, then up in the mulberry tree above it. "Do you see that jaybird nest in the mulberry tree?"

"Yes. It has three baby birds in it," White Robin said.

"We call the little one Jayleen. She's the runt, and runts seldom survive the nesting season. I want you keep watch on her until I return! I'm going to the rancher's barn at the end of the street with Lola to sit with our friend Muumuu. She's expecting twins and having a rough time of it."

"What if something happens? What do I do?"

"The jaybird on guard will alert the whole kingdom, and we will all come quickly. You, little bird, will stay in the apple tree and watch and learn. It's called schooling."

Granny took off through the treetops along the side street down to the rancher's barn. The side street ended at the gate to the barn lot. It wasn't a real barn, like the one that White Robin was born in. It was just a big metal shop building with a giant sliding door on the front of it.

The sky had cleared and the sun was high. It had turned into a beautiful spring day, with bright green grass, and flowers of every color of a rainbow were blooming on the trees and grounds everywhere. White Robin was relaxing in Lola Robin's nest and nibbling on his seeds when all at once he realized why Lola had built her nest in that particular spot. He had what is called "bird's-eye view" of the kingdom.

He could see the jaybirds feeding their babies in the mulberry tree, and the ladyhawk high up in the sycamore tree, the great horned owls higher still in the pine tree, and through the front window of Drew's cabin, where his little dog Rudy was standing on the back of the sofa looking outside. He could see the hay bales at the end of the garden where the barn used to be, and beyond, past the little Osage Valley where the twin creeks flowed, and over the ridge all the way to where the giant silver birds that carried people landed and took off many times a day. He could see all but the front side of the big house, and he could even see Lola Robin and Granny Gray beside the huge white cow they had named Muumuu, down at the barn.

Two tiny house wrens were scratching bark off of logs in the woodpile. They stopped for a moment and sang a beautiful song. Their voices were very loud and rejoicing—louder than the voices of a redbird. Which are many times bigger than the little house wrens. How is that possible? White Robin thought. After the song they set to gathering ant and termite eggs in their beaks. When they had all they wanted, the wrens flew to a front window on Drew's cabin, squeezed through a hole in the screen, then dropped down to a nest they had built in the corner of the window sill. One wren went inside the tiny nest through a little hole, while the other wren waited outside.

White Robin glimpsed a clump of leaves being kicked up on the ground over by the fence. He looked closer. A brown, speckled bird the same size as Lola popped out from under a pile of leaves.

It was a bush thrasher with a grub worm in his mouth. Another thrasher bird showed up and took the beetle grub from her companion. They were very quiet and did not offer any bird songs, and their markings blended in so well with the pile of leaves that aside from the bright thankfulness beaming in their eyes, it was difficult even for White Robin to see them.

The momma thrasher hopped into the shadows inside the hedges that had grown up through the fence line and paused at a hidden nest that was built off the ground no higher than the fence. Three fuzzy heads with bright yellow beaks appeared in the nest. The momma thrasher pulled bites off the grub worm and placed the morsels lovingly into the oversize mouths of her funny-faced little nestlings.

White Robin hummed a pigeon lullaby. It went somewhat like, _Hush little pigeon, don't you cry, Momma's gonna sing you a lullaby._ Tears began to well up in his eyes. "Please come home and sing to me, Momma."

### Chapter 10

Dark Raven was pacing back and forth on the top beam of a condemned bridge over the Illinois River. His tattered feathers were gray as ashes. Several hundred corvine crows were roosting in the trees on both sides of the river, waiting for their famous leader to speak.

"I need two volunteers to cross the big woods down to the big river and follow the sun's path past the old fort to the Spiro Indian mounds," he said, "and report to my brother Tar Raven. Tell him we will leave at first light and join up with his troops midway at the White Rock campgrounds near the south edge of the big woods."

Many crows volunteered, but like always, Dark Raven chose his oldest and most trusted troopers for the mission.

Levi was watching from the far end of the bridge, with great esteem for the huge Raven.

"Levi! My cousin! Come forward! What brings you away from the safety and confines of your tiny kingdom?"

Levi crow hopped over to him. "I need a service, Dark Raven."

"You need adventure, Levi! You are a crow, not a redbird. Join us in our journey down the big river. It will build fortitude in you."

"My duty is to my master Rick and the members of my kingdom. I am no longer a true crow." He held up his leg with the shiny band on it. "With this on my leg, and my tongue changed, I can never be free again. I am livestock!"

"I reckon there may be a seed of truth to that, cousin. I have seen many crows, ducks, geese, and even the Great Bald Eagle with a leg-band. Their manner changes and turns them...aloof. But Levi, you are still family, and someday soon, I'm afraid, when I am too old to travel, and being that I was born there, I plan to settle in your kingdom and let you govern me; lest it be in the way of your good standing."

"You and Tar are always welcome, Dark Raven. It's our birthplace; where we all return when we grow old. My standing, yours, and Tar's are the reason I am here."

"You know my soft spot too well, Levi. Name your favor, cousin!"

"A storm came through and carried off a flock of pigeons. Only a single squab was spared. Same as the Great Spirit, he is white as the puffy clouds before a storm."

"Then it is likely the Great Spirit saved the squab for a purpose and is calling on us for a favor!" Dark Raven pronounced. "I seek His blessings for my journey. Are you tending the squab?"

"He's being tended by Lola Robin," Levi said. "Granny Gray found him, put him in Lola's nest, and named him White Robin to protect him from danger."

Dark Raven laughed. "Because they believe nothing messes with a robin. Poor Lola; maybe after this trial is over the Great Spirit will bless her with a brood of her own design." He went silent for a long moment, then said, "Like the squab, it would be a miracle if his momma escaped the storm alive."

"Still," Levi said."It is our duty to The Great Spirit and our good standing to try and find her. The storm rode the upper winds over the big woods down to the river valley, the way you do when you travel great distances. I only ask that you put the word out so a white pigeon named Savanna can know that her son, White Robin, is alive and well."

Levi dug deep into the thick fold of craw feathers under his chin and produced the feather that he had taken from White Robin. "This is from the squab."

"Caw, caw, caw! Victor, front and center!" Dark Raven summoned his top crow up to the bridge beam. "Give the proof to Victor," he told Levi. "He is our finest tracker. If Savanna is out there, then Victor will hear about it, and see that she gets the proof. If that is all, Levi, then bid me good luck. I have a long journey ahead, and much planning to do."

Levi flew off the bridge and sailed through the gauntlet of hundreds of corvine crows who were heckling him from the trees along the river for being banded like a barnyard goose.

"Caw, caw, caw! I am first cousin of Dark Raven and his brother Tar Raven," he shouted. "Caw, caw, caw! I am Levi Raven, mighty leader of our home kingdom, birthplace of the mighty Raven brothers!"

The heckling stopped.

No gang of crows could resist a dare from an outsider, so Levi circled back and made another pass by the corvine caravan to see if any of the lowly crows dared to team up and challenge his authority. Not one crow even made eye contact.

Levi flew under the old bridge, just above the river, tipped his wing, and touched the surface of the Water Spirit in a good luck and farewell salute to Dark Raven, and his second-in- command, Victor the tracker, who were observing his bold, yet ludicrous gauntlet run from up there on the iron beam. Levi veered north where the twin Osage creeks emptied into the Illinois River and headed for home.

### Chapter 11

White Robin was taking a nap in Lola's nest when it happened. The three baby jaybirds in the mulberry tree were hungry and getting cranky. They were fledglings who had already outgrown their nest and like the starlings, should have been long gone by now. The two brothers were much bigger than their sister Jayleen. The brothers were fighting over whose turn it was to eat first. "It's my turn! You went first last time!" they screamed at each other. They hogged most of the food from Jayleen and crowded her out of the nest. She even had to sleep standing on the rim of the nest and leaning over on them.

The jaybird on guard duty yelled, "Knock it off or I'll jerk a feather from your rumps!"

They calmed down for a little while, and then they started arguing again. Soon they were jabbing, clawing, and hitting each other. The jaybird on guard duty jumped over to the nest and began batting them with his wings. "I said knock it off!"

During the ruckus the guard's wing accidentally backslapped Jayleen. She nearly got knocked from the nest, she teetered on the edge, flapping her wings frantically, trying to get her balance.

The guard and the brothers were too caught up in the rumble and didn't notice Jayleen clinging to the edge of the nest.

"Help me, I'm falling!"

They all stopped and jerked their heads around just in time to see Jayleen falling from the mulberry tree. They screamed, "Jayleen!"

Jayleen fluttered around and landed on the woodpile fairly softly, as fledglings with full-grown feathers usually do.

The guard bird screamed out the alarm: "Eee, yak, yak, yak! Bird down, bird down, bird down!"

White Robin sprang to attention and stood on the edge of Lola's nest. Almost instantly a few mockingbirds, a colony of sparrows, the two house wrens, a pair of redbirds, and the thrashers appeared.

A mangy stray cat, aptly named Six-toes, had been napping on the rabbit trail next to the chain link fence. He was a dim- witted outcast but even so, he didn't need to understand bird talk to know what that alarm meant. He scrambled to his feet and began slinking down the rabbit trail toward Jayleen.

"Cheep, cheep! Help me Momma! Help me!"

Granny Gray Squirrel and Lola heard the alarm and struck out down the middle of the side street for the woodpile.

The red-tailed ladyhawk was out hunting and heard the alarm. The temptation was driving her crazy. She circled around so high in the sky that her white underside resembled a snowflake slowly spiraling toward the woodpile.

Levi was just returning from his trip to see Dark Raven, and he heard the alarm. To his dark side it was a predator call—it meant easy pickings for the first one who could get to it—and to his law-abiding side it was almost as unnerving as a screaming rabbit in a steel trap. He searched the sky above the tall sycamore tree and instantly spotted the ladyhawk. He flew straight on toward the wood pile, where the guard bird was still screaming, "Eee, yak! Bird down, bird down." If the ladyhawk should swoop down and try to steal Jayleen—since she was a fierce raptor armed with a razor-sharp beak and talons that could slash and kill in a heartbeat—then Levi's only chance at preventing it without being killed himself would be to ram her, and then, hope springs eternal, get well away from her before her temper kicked in.

"Go down into the wood pile, hurry!" the thrashers screamed.

"No, Jayleen!" White Robin screamed. "Don't go into the woodpile! The blue ghost is in there! Jump to the fence!"

"No! Don't jump to the fence," the mockingbirds yelled. "Six-toes is coming down the rabbit trail. Jump over to the mulberry tree, hurry!"

Ole Blue slithered out of his rat hole and threaded his long lanky body through the logs till he was just one stack below Jayleen. Blue knew that "bird down" predator call, very well, and was banking on his good fortune to reward him with a tasty little jaybird to top his day. He licked his lips and waited for Jayleen to fall through the spaces between the logs.

By now, the sparrows had caught up with the ladyhawk and surrounded her. They were trying to distract her by biting at her wing and tail feathers. Some purple martins had joined in the chase and were squawking threats at her from a safe distance to the rear. The ladyhawk ignored them and kept her focus on Jayleen.

Four mockingbirds teamed up and went after Six-toes. Two pecked on his rear, and when he turned to swat at them the other two pecked him on his head. They were all over him like a swarm of mad hornets. He took off running back the way he came, screaming, "Oww! Leave me alone! Oww!"

The tiny house wrens plunged into the woodpile and set in jabbing Ole Blue up and down his lanky hide. Since he was threaded through the logs like the grapevine on the fence; he was helpless to turn around and fight them off. And he couldn't possibly concentrate on snatching little Jayleen with all that aggravation going on down there around his broken butt bone.

White Robin was clinging to the edge of Lola's nest and leaning way forward with his wings outstretched. "Jump to the mulberry tree, Jayleen! Hurry, before the ladyhawk gets here."

Levi pulled his wings in close like a falcon does and zoomed toward Jayleen.

The ladyhawk soared by her nest in the tall sycamore tree and heard the hungry cry for food coming from her babies. It was more than the high-stressed young ladyhawk could bear. She veered hard right and did a rollover to shake the sparrows off her flanks, and then re-fixed her sights on Jayleen. She pulled her wings in close and went into a dive attack.

"Hurry, Jayleen! The ladyhawk is coming!"

Jayleen was paralyzed with fear; so many voices at once, screaming so many different things to do.

It was now very apparent to White Robin why Granny Gray had hustled him off the ground and into Lola's nest so urgently. And everything Levi had said about the ladyhawk was true. White Robin could not fathom the rising tension that welled up inside of him. All at once his temper hit fever pitch, and he exploded like a thunder clap that rattles the core of giant trees. He yelled a rare pigeon battle cry and jumped from Lola's nest planning to knock Jayleen off the woodpile and over to the safety of the fence.

Levi caught up with the ladyhawk right as she leveled out to come at Jayleen head on. She was going to snatch Jayleen and shoot straight up, all in one lightning-swift motion.

Levi's speed and flying skills were no contest for the ladyhawk's. He was trailing as close as he could ever get to her; just three blinks away from snatching little Jayleen. He stretched his neck out and grabbed her rump feathers with his beak.

At that very moment, White Robin slammed into Jayleen and knocked her over to the chain link fence. The ladyhawk turned furious. She did a rollover, swiped at Levi in midair, and slashed him with her claws. A puff of feathers came off of Levi, and he balled up as if he had been shot. He bounced off the woodpile and tumbled halfway across the lawn. Rick and Drew were standing on the cabin porch, watching the whole time. Rick screamed, "Levi!" and rushed over to him.

Rick bent over Levi to see how badly he was hurt. Levi's eyes were open, but he wasn't moving. He had an awful gash on his chest, was bleeding something terrible, and his wing was broken from hitting the woodpile. He tried to speak, to tell Rick his last request: _Remove the band from my leg. I don't want it on me when I go before the Great Spirit to be judged. I want Him to see me, just as He made me..._

Rick stood there shaking his head in disbelief. "Don't die on me, Levi. Please don't die."

"Come on, Rick," Drew yelled. "Bring Levi to my truck and let's get him to the vet!"

Rick took his shirt off, wrapped it around Levi, cradled him in his arms, and rushed over to the truck. "You're the only family I've got, Levi. Please don't die on me!"

Granny Gray and Lola Robin arrived in time to see little Jayleen wrap her wings around White Robin's neck. "You saved my life. You're a true leader!"

"Everyone here is a leader," Granny Gray Squirrel uttered."Especially Levi Raven, the mighty leader of our kingdom, who gave his all to serve and protect...us all."

She had been watching breathlessly, along with everyone else, when the ladyhawk slashed him, and again when Rick had rushed him to the truck.

Now the loud flapping sounds of justice, tantamount to a judge's gavel banging on wood, burst from the giant pine tree in front of the big house. Everyone turned to look. The great horned owls were leaving their tree in broad daylight. All the animals knew what that rare occasion meant.

The ladyhawk didn't even look back at her nest. She knew the penalty for what she had done. She screeched so loudly it could be heard for a mile or more, and then she headed straight back to where she belonged—out there in the big woods, where handouts were few and far between and easy pickings were slim to none.

### Chapter 12

Mid-way across the big woods on the old scenic highway at, a little one-church town called West Fork, Cindy Cinnamon and her scouts were resting at an abandoned building that looked like an old schoolhouse, built back before cars were common. It had a sign out front with big letters on it: LIBRARY.

Cindy befriended a small flock of pigeons that lived there. She told them of her mission to find Savanna's baby. They had heard all about the storm. The pigeons said a crow named Victor the tracker, from the Dark Raven cavalcade, had passed through just an hour earlier, looking for a white pigeon named Savanna from the Twin Creeks region. He had news that her baby squab was alive and well, and being tended to by a robin named Lola. Victor said they called him White Robin, to protect him from danger. He had even shown them the feather that Levi had plucked from White Robin's head.

"The Twin Creeks region!" Cindy squealed with rapturous joy. "Which way did he go?"

The West Fork pigeons had not had any information for Victor, so he'd promptly headed out."He made a beeline across the lake," they said. "South, to Willow Springs!

"That must be how we missed him," Cindy said. "We followed the railroad tracks next to the black road. If we hurry, maybe we can reach him before dark! Come on, scouts! We have to catch up with Victor the tracker!

### Chapter 13

Jayleen's momma insisted on getting her back into the mulberry tree jaybird-style—by flying. Now she was surrounded by adult jaybirds, all were prodding to fly. "Fly, Jayleen, fly!" They hectored. Jayleen would run like a chicken with a dog nipping at her rump, and then she'd jump and get a few feet off the ground, then crash down again. The jaybirds steered her to the overgrowth on the fence line and ordered her to hop up a sapling. Jayleen hopped up to the top of a small sassafras sapling and took a short rest.

The jaybirds chattered for her to keep practicing. She fluttered from sapling to sapling, a few feet at a time, all the way down the fence line, somewhat like Rick's grandson dogpaddling for the first time in the deep end of his swimming pool—Watch me swim, Momma! By the time Jayleen made it back to the mulberry tree, she would be an independent jaybird, able to fly all the way across the yard without stopping.

"I'm going to go practice in the apple trees," White Robin said to Lola.

"That'll be fine," Lola said. "But be sure and stay in the apple grove. I don't want to have to go looking for you at suppertime."

White Robin hopped up on the woodpile to get the attention of the jaybird brothers, who were crowded in the nest, sulking at all the attention Jayleen was getting. He leaped up to the limb their nest was on to make friends with them. Instantly he was surrounded by a half dozen jaybirds with their beaks aimed at him ready to run him through with their sharp beaks. He bailed out of the mulberry tree and fluttered across the side street to the apple orchard in record time. The jaybird brothers thought that was funny. "You'd better cut and run, squab." they jeered. Even Granny Gray and Lola chuckled under their breath.

"He sure has learned a lot in a very short time, hasn't he, Granny?" Lola said proudly.

"I suppose," Granny said. "But he still has a long way to go! Who's that fool over there on the grass with his wings spread out like he's dying?"

Lola looked over there on Drew's lawn, "What in the world?"

It was a male robin, well groomed with a dark head of feathers and strikingly handsome. He was pretending to be dying to get Lola to come over there.

"Go see what's wrong with him!" Granny said. She pushed Lola in that direction.

Granny Gray had lived a long life and had seen about every trick in the kingdom. Even so, she thought robin courtship habits were the strangest of all. She knew that robin; he was a high-hat robin from Rock Creek, down at the golf course, and his momma had named him Rock Robin to instill prominence in him early on. Granny climbed up on the woodpile and got comfortable. It was going to be a good show.

Lola meandered across the lawn, pretending to be hunting for earthworms, and acted unaware of the stranger splayed out on the grass in the bright sunshine. She changed her comportment and strolled up and down the lawn with her head perked high, as if she was looking for green tomato-worms in a kitchen garden, each time getting one row closer to the listless robin. Finally, when she was two rows over, Lola could stand the suspense no longer. She peeked over at him sideways.

"Hey, fella! Hey there! Are you feeling all right?"

He whispered something.

Lola cocked her head. "What did you say?"

"I said, oh, oh, oh!"

She inched closer. "Are you hurt?"

"Closer, come closer," he answered. He quivered a little; then his eyes rolled back in his head and a clear film closed over them, like it does when birds sleep, or die.

"Oh no!" Lola clucked. She hurried over to him and put her ear to his back, between his wings, to see if his heart had stopped beating.

Suddenly the sly joker jumped up, wrapped his wings around Lola real tight, and yelled, "Ah hah! I got you. You're mine now!"

Lola shrieked and struggled to break free. She took two steps back, and, in the most vulgar robin language Granny had ever heard Lola use, she bellowed, "You lowdown, sorry, rotten, robin poop of dried yellow matter! I'll pluck your eyeballs out and use them for maggot bait!"

Lola attacked him, pecking and batting her wings with amazing fury.

He tried to fend off her attack, calmly crooning, "Easy now, darling! I only wanted to make your lovely acquaintance, that's all! I didn't mean to rile you."

He took off, flying just above the ground. Lola chased after him and caught him. They tumbled to the ground, and Lola kept working him over with her claws, pecking him, and beating him with her wings. "Nobody ever, I mean ever, gets away with pulling that crap on me!"

"Help me, somebody! Help me! She's killing me!" cried Rock Robin.

He got away from her and fled for his life. Lola stayed right on his tail. He couldn't shake her for nothing. He flew under Drew's boat, around the lawnmower, under the back porch, and through every obstacle he could find. Still Lola stayed right with him. He took off down to the rancher's barn, where Muumuu was, all across the pasture, and around behind Rick's trailer. They crossed the side street and raced through the apple orchard past White Robin so fast that he could barely tell which one was Lola. They jutted up and over the hay bales and on down the hill to the golf course, heading toward Rock Creek. Granny Gray was laughing so hard she nearly fell off the woodpile.

### Chapter 14

The sun was already down and the last bit of light was fading when Cindy got to the old church at Willow Springs. She could see a huge black crow gorging on seeds that he had shaken to the ground from a tiny bird feeder that was made only for little songbirds.

"Victor!" Cindy called out from a safe distance.

Victor jumped and arched his wings, quick to fend off an attacker.

"Are you Victor the tracker?"

"Friend or foe?" Victor cawed.

"Friend! I know where Savanna is. We've been out searching for her son. He's a white fledgling about my age."

"She's holed up and healing at Junction Pass, at the grain elevator by the railroad tracks," Victor said. "The old geezer just gave me the lowdown, then went back to his roost."

That's probably the same old geezer that I chided for being negative, earlier this morning, Cindy thought.

"I was prepared to be out for days," Victor said."But now I can be at White Rock before my outfit gets there."

"I heard you have proof. May I see it?" Cindy asked.

Victor dug the feather from a craw fold under his beak. Cindy hopped over to it and smelled it. Sure enough, it matched Savanna's scent. She paused to think. "Are you going to rest before you take off again?"

"I never rest when I am on a personal mission for the Mighty Dark Raven!"

"I understand your loyalty. Will you to guide us to White Robin? But first allow me and my scouts to get some rest."

"My mission is to get the proof to his momma and nothing more!"

"Can you at least give us directions?" Cindy beseeched.

"Point your wing to where the sun went down. Now look to that tall tower with the blinking light on it. That's Round Mountain. Go straight at it, and shoot your azimuths on a large tree or a bluff or a tower and so on.

"You mean set trail markers in case we have to escape danger and regroup somewhere safe?"

Victor ignored her. It got his goat to show patience to pouter pigeons, especially to have to explain military terms to them. In fact the whole mission had rubbed him wrong from the get go. With the exception of Dark Raven and Tar Raven; by nature ordinary crows do not cotton to squabs, unless they intend to eat them. Victor would have to grin and bear it. He knew Dark Raven was testing him, to see if he was ready to relieve him and take command, so that the Mighty Raven could go home and retire.

"Go until you see the big shiny birds with people inside them, landing and taking off." He scowled. "If you leave at first light you'll be there by the time the sun is straight above you. You'll be crossing the big woods. Many outlaws abound in that region—especially the chicken hawks and the much swifter falcon hawks. You might avoid them better if you fly higher than that tower. They always attack from above. Do not stop until you pass the double black road that leads into the setting sun. There, the land is wide open. With your powerful eyes, you should begin to see the shiny birds." That was all Victor was willing to offer.

"Thank you, Victor. Please tell Savanna we are leaving at first light. Tell her to wait there for our return." Cindy turned to face the scouts. "Let's camp for the night, scouts. We have a very bold journey ahead of us."

### Chapter 15

Lola was late getting back from Rock Creek. She had a big juicy worm for White Robin. She called him to supper. He was worn out and starving from his rigorous training. He landed in the apple tree next to Lola and opened his mouth wide. Lola pushed the worm inside. White Robin made a sour expression, then gulped the worm on down.

"Yuk! I don't think I'll ever take to liking robin food."

"You can roost in my nest, White Robin. I'll roost here beside you." Lola sounded very tired.

Granny Gray Squirrel had been scrubbing her winter home with green pine needles most of the day, in an effort to get the starling smell out. It was in a hollow limb in the large maple tree at the rear corner of the big house. It lay in the opposite direction, but nearly the same distance from Lola's nest, as the Holly tree. Granny loaned it out to the starlings during the spring nesting season. Their chicks were already grown and they had all moved out a few days earlier.

Granny was on her way back from saying goodnight to Clara the injured momma squirrel, and her lone baby in the holly tree. She climbed up the apple tree to check on Lola and White Robin,

"Are you guys settled in?"

"Yes, we are, Granny. Thank you for asking."

"You have made powerful progress in your flying skills, White Robin. I am very pleased."

"Levi said in a couple days I'd be flying better than any—" A sad feeling washed over White Robin. "Is Levi going to be all right?"

"I don't know, little bird," Granny said. "Perhaps the Great Spirit needed him in His kingdom for more important matters." Granny said.

"It sure is awfully quiet around here with Levi gone," Lola said.

"Everyone is missing him...is why" Granny wiped her eyes.

"I'm going out to look for my momma tomorrow!" White Robin declared.

"You are not ready to venture out alone, little bird! You need to build up your fortitude by learning from a seasoned adult like Lola first," said Granny. "There are too many dangers for a lone fledgling to be roaming aimlessly around out there!"

"She's right," Lola said. "I'll take you out looking for her. We will go as far as the wide black road, where the searchers turned back this morning, and follow it until we reach the other wide black road that follows the setting sun."

"Thank you, Lola. Thanks for everything you've done for me; and you too, Granny Gray, for saving my life." He wrapped his wings around Granny's neck and hugged her. "Good night, Granny Gray Squirrel."

"Good night, White Robin." She studied Lola suspiciously, "Did you get that Rock Robin fellow straightened out?"

"Good night, Granny!"

Granny laughed. "Good night, Lola."

### Chapter 16

It was after midnight, during the ghost hours, when Victor arrived at Junction Pass. Victor knew the area well; it was a common resting place for birds traveling south.

He could not roust the pigeons awake at that hour. As superstitious as pigeons are, they would surely see him as a netherworld ghost and flee in terror. Savanna would have to wait until morning to receive Victor's news of her baby. He flew to the top of a tall pine tree across the railroad tracks from the grain elevator, and was asleep the instant his feet touched the tree.

******

"Up and at 'em, scouts! Drink lots of water and eat until you can't eat anymore, then stuff your craws full. We are about to test the courage and endurance of every pigeon here."

"It's not even daylight yet, Cindy," they all grumbled. They were sore and aching from the hard driving Cindy had put them through to catch up with Victor.

"That's one strike," Cindy bellowed. "I failed to mention that three strikes and you are off my team. Is that clear, scouts?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Now get squared away and meet me at the bird fountain."

"Victor the tracker said we should leave at first light."

"That's two strikes against you, Scout!"

"But, I was just saying—"

"You must be the son of that negative old geezer. You are off our team!"

"He's his grandson. I came up from Texas with that ornery old codger! I'll take the boy's place," came a gravelly voice from the shadows of a cedar tree. "I've flown across them big woods many times. I was a messenger pigeon back in the day. My learning will come in handy."

"Come forward and show yourself," Cindy demanded.

An aging pigeon limped out into the moonlight and stood there halfcocked on the lawn with a crooked leg.

Cindy gasped. "You're crippled!"

"Has no bearing on my flying abilities, ma'am. I am still as good a tumbler as any, and better than most. Just stings my pride at large gatherings, is all. I know your plight. I have one more romp in me, and then I reckon I'll call it quits. Or maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get to go out in a blaze of glory, like all us Texans hanker to do."

"How—"

"Falcon hawks. Three of em ganged up on me midway across the big woods."

"What's your—"

"Fast Eddie, back in the day. Now it's Falcon Eddie, mostly from getting laughed down by the bullies at large gatherings."

"You sound like you have plenty of salt left in you."

"More than all of you put together and then some. I listened in to you talking to that tracker crow last night. I've been to where _them_ shiny birds land!"

"Do you know what an azimuth is?"

"It's a straight-line trail marker used to map your direction in case a unit is split up and has to regroup somewhere at a safe point."

"You are a blessing, Falcon Eddie. We desperately needed a veteran point guide. That's Swifty, and that's his brother Dodger. They're from my flock at Junction Pass. And that's Pebo, from the geezer's flock here at—"

"I know Pebo and his bunch. Names mean little or nothing to me, ma'am. I'll give you all I got left in me. Partly cause ya'll are just babes in the woods going across there, especially with them greenhorns and all, and partly cause I admire your pluck. And mostly cause I've got a score to settle. How much tumbler skills do you have?"

Dodger chimed in. "Her Aunt May trained her. May is the fastest tumbler in the region, and our flock is already saying Cindy is bound to go way past her."

That was pigeon music to Cindy's ears. "Welcome to our team, Falcon Eddie. Fall in at the bird fountain, after you've eaten."

"I'm squared away and ready to go now, ma'am." He leaned toward Cindy and whispered, "I'll get you across there, but I can't promise _them_ pouters nothing."

### Chapter 17

"I can't move my wings, Lola!" White Robin squealed.

"You worked them too hard yesterday, little bird. Here." She stuffed a fat night crawler into his mouth.

It was breaking daylight, and every muscle in White Robin's body was sore to the bone.

"Now get up and limber your muscles loose," Lola said. "Get out of that nest and limber up! Chop, chop! The pain only hits you once. Then it fades away quickly." She eased her wings in under his and started flapping them.

"Ow, ow, ow, that hurts!" White Robin cried out.

"Keep flapping! We have a hard day ahead. Your flock is depending on us to find them and bring them home."

With that, White Robin jumped up, stood on the edge of Lola's nest, and leaped off. He flew around the apple orchard twice, then landed by Lola. "Will you teach me to fly like you did when you were chasing that Rock Robin guy?"

"Of course," Lola said. "But it will require your total concentration. The slightest mistake can get you hurt real bad, or even get you killed. We'll start out slowly and then gradually go faster and faster. Fly close behind me. Close enough to touch my rump feathers. Concentrate only on me and nothing else. Pretend you are my shadow. Let's go!"

They took off, heading east toward the wide black roads.

Granny Gray Squirrel crouched at the opening to her winter home in the maple tree, shelling buried pecans, and listening. She was disappointed to see two young squirrels eating the purple blossoms on her maple tree; although, the blossoms are sweet like candy, they are low in protein and cannot sustain the ever growing muscles of a tree squirrel. They had not been taught soon enough to store up food for the winter, but then maybe they'd been born late and missed the harvest. She changed her mood and chuckled.

"It seems easier to learn to fly when you are mad, little bird. That's how Lola got so good."

### Chapter 18

"Your kind is not welcome here, so you'd best keep moving on," said the elder pigeon from the doorway at the grain elevator.

"I have news for a white pigeon named Savanna."

"Give me the news and I will pass it on to her. She is not well at the moment."

"I must deliver the news and the proof I carry, in person, by order of the Mighty Dark Raven!"

"Your kind is known for lying and trickery."

"If you call me a liar, I'll have a thousand crows come here and take this place away from you worthless squabs, and then we'll eat each and every one of your grain-fed fat carcasses alive!"

Victor started crow-hopping in a circle and spitting at the center of it, and the elder pigeon started trembling. For he knew that was a corvine war dance.

"Give me a moment."

A short while later the elder pigeon returned with Savanna by his side; still woozy from her ordeal. "This is Savanna. You may deliver your news to her."

Victor nodded respectfully. "Ma'am, your white squab is alive and well. Lola Robin is tending him. Granny Gray Squirrel found him and named him White Robin. A cinnamon pigeon from this flock named Cindy and her scouts are on their way there. I gave them directions. She wants you to stay here and wait for her return." Victor produced the feather and offered it to Savanna.

Savanna sniffed it, and then snatched it from Victor. "Thank you, Great Spirit. Thank you for saving my baby." To Victor it appeared that Savanna was laughing and crying at the same time. It probably had something to do with that gob of pigeon poop matted up on her noggin. No doubt for medicinal reasons, he thought.

Savanna did a happy pigeon dance. She whirled around and around, then lit out for the door to the grain elevator, flapping her wings and running like a wild turkey trotting, all the while singing a pigeon song that went somewhat like, _This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine._

"Forgive me for being short with you, stranger," said the elder. "I took you for a drifter, but now I see that you are a fine soldier, and will make a great leader when your time comes. What is your name?"

"Victor, the tracker! Second-in-command to the Mighty Dark Raven!"

"Well, Victor, if you are ever back this way again, alone, feel free to stop in for food and rest."

### Chapter 19

"The best formation for a small contingent like ours is to fly side by side with Cindy in the middle. It's called a V formation," said Falcon Eddie. "I'll cover the rear, since that's usually where they attack first. Cindy will cover the front; you scouts will cover the sides, and below and above. Keep very quiet. We don't want to draw any unwanted attention."

"Move out, scouts," Cindy bellowed.

They ascended as high as the blinking light on the radio tower, then headed straight for it. The sky at the rim of the eastern horizon was baby blue.

"We'll be deep into enemy territory at daylight, scouts," said Cindy. "You all heard Victor. We won't be stopping till the sun is straight overhead, so I'll set the pace at half speed."

"If we get caught up in a chase we'll need all our strength and then some to get away," Falcon Eddie added. "Lucky for us they're like house cats; they get winded and give out pretty quick."

### Chapter 20

It seemed as if they were dancing like two butterflies on a light breeze, White Robin thought. Him and Lola were a about a mile out from their kingdom, flying low over an open hayfield with no obstacles around.

"Go faster, Lola."

"You have to learn the rhythm first, and then I'll go faster."

They went on dancing for another mile, then Lola shot straight up. White Robin kept right with her. She jagged this way then that way, straight up, straight down, and then she did a half- dozen rollovers in a row. She came out of the rollovers flying upside down, and then she flew sideways for a while. White Robin stayed with her as though he were tethered to her.

"You learn fast, little bird. Now comes the obstacles. This skill may save your life someday. Remember, concentrate. One tiny mistake can get you hurt or killed!"

"I'm ready!"

Lola veered toward a ranch house with many outbuildings, implements, and trees around it. The people of the house were having breakfast outside on their deck. Lola fancied an audience. It reminded her of when she'd first learned to fly and how she'd entertain her momma and everyone else with her newfound tricks. She could only go about half speed because of the dangers posed to White Robin.

She did a rollover and zoomed under the railing of the deck, right past the people. A little boy squealed, "Look at that white pigeon chasing that robin!"

The people stopped eating and turned to watch the show Lola was putting on. Lola did a somersault and zoomed past the people again to make sure she had their full attention. She sailed under the high belly of a pickup truck, crisscrossed around the poles in a pole barn, flew backwards around a few trees, descended close enough to the ground for her feet to touch it, and barreled head on at a riding lawn mower. The people were standing up now.

It looked like Lola was going to crash into it. She was mere inches from the lawnmower when she shot straight up.

"Thump!"

"Oh no!" wailed the people.

"Poor little pigeon," cried the boy.

White Robin had glanced off the steering wheel of the lawn mower. Lola had let herself get so caught up in entertaining the people that, only for a split second, she had forgotten about White Robin. She did a hairpin turnaround and was already there when White Robin hit the ground. He hit the soft grass like a duck landing on water.

Lola rushed to him. "Are you all right? Please tell me you're all right, please, White Robin!"

White Robin hopped to his feet, stood high on his toes, spread his wings out wide, and yelled, "That was fun! Let's do it again!"

"Yay!" cheered the people.

Lola nearly fainted with relief.

### Chapter 21

"Right there in front of that outcrop of rocks is where they jumped me," said Falcon Eddie. "Pert near tore my leg plum off. I made it to a crevice in them rocks and holed up till night fell. Then I lit out for home like a meadowlark out of a brush fire."

It was midmorning, and Cindy and her scouts were well past midway crossing the big woods.

"We haven't seen hardly any birds at all, let alone any falcon hawks," said Pebo. "I don't see why anything would want to live out in these creepy woods."

"There's a hawk in that tree on top of that bluff over yonder," said Dodger.

"I see him too!" said Swifty.

"That's a Cooper's hawk." said Falcon Eddie. "They don't cause much trouble, at least not in the summertime. In fact, most all hawks don't bother with birds in flight, during the summertime. Those mean little falcons just do it for sport."

"Looks like that Cooper's got himself a rabbit," said Dodger.

"Keep watching him until we're of sight," Cindy said, then added, "We're going to have to drop down a ways. The air is just too thin at this level. Is anyone else feeling woozy?"

They all said yes.

It was a bright clear day, hardly a cloud in the sky. When they got down to where they could taste the oxygen in the air, Cindy picked up the pace a little.

Falcon Eddie checked the sun's position. "We're making good time, Cindy. I'd say we'll be at the double black roads long before the sun is straight up. I know a place there next to the road where they raise chickens by the score. There's grub spilled all over the place. We'll fill up there."

They spotted two red-tailed hawks far below, treetop high. The hawks were circling a small meadow, probably going after a mouse.

"My dad says the odds of getting attacked by a falcon hawk are about the same as getting swallowed by a fish when you're getting a drink of water," said Pebo. "My dad said only the fools who smell like cow-pies and hog-slop get—"

"Pebo!" Cindy commanded. "Knock it off."

Swifty and Dodger busted up laughing.

"I was only repeating what my dad said, is all!"

"Your dad is a bully! I will not stand for bullying! Is that clear, Pebo?"

"Yes ma'am."

Falcon Eddie cut his eyes hard at Pebo. "I'm moan have me a word or two with yo daddy, when we get back home, son."

"You can knock it off too, Falcon Eddie! Veterans are to be held above that nonsense."

"Yes, ma'am."

### Chapter 22

"Are you getting hungry, little bird?"

"I'm fine, Lola. But if you're hungry, then we can stop and scratch up something."

"I want to show you a trick I learned from the sparrows. But you must promise not to ever tell anyone I showed you. Robin creed will not permit me to take handouts. It would mar my shroud of protection."

Like Granny Gray Squirrel had said, robins were strange, White Robin thought. "I promise."

White Robin had lied. He was starving, and Lola knew it. She could practically see him growing right before her eyes. She had spotted a Sonic Drive-In a while back, and they were just then circling the parking lot of the restaurant.

They lit in a Bradford pear tree on a grass island. "See that car with those children in the backseat?" asked Lola.

"They all have children in them."

"The rusty car straight in front of us! Go over there and stand by the door and stare at the children. I don't take handouts from people, but I'll go with you to keep the sparrows from stealing your food."

White Robin flew over and did what Lola said. Sure enough, the children grew excited at the sight of a pretty white pigeon and gleefully started tossing bits of hamburgers, hotdogs, and French fries to White Robin. He ate till his belly bulged out. The food tasted heavenly, especially those tiny sesame seeds on the buns.

He and Lola flew back over to the pear tree. "Did you enjoy your lunch?"

"I only wish I had a bigger belly, so I could hold more food."

Lola laughed. "That food is cooked till it's dry, so get you a big drink of water and let's get back on the trail before you start getting sleepy." She motioned to a leaking sprinkler head that had water pooled around it.

White Robin couldn't remember ever drinking pure water. He had been reared on pigeon milk. Pigeons hold food in their craw till it turns into a milky cream, which they feed to their babies. He hopped down and tasted the water. It was sweet and cool. He started gulping.

"Easy now! You'll get sick and lose your lunch," Called Lola. "That's enough...let's go."

### Chapter 23

"I see the double black roads," said Swifty. "Can we rest now, Cindy?"

"See the big chicken on that sign out by the road, Cindy," said Falcon Eddie. "Head for that place, they spill some of the finest grain I've ever et, around there. They flew over to the poultry farm and circled the long poultry houses several times. Finally Falcon Eddie spotted a busted sack of chicken feed beside a lane between the long buildings. The pigeons flew over to the feed and set in gorging on it like they hadn't eaten in days.

******

"Sorry ma'am," said the kindly truck stop pigeon. "We all heard about the terrible tragedy. We haven't seen nor heard of the whereabouts of the pigeons you described. We'd definitely remember a white pigeon named Savanna. Is that her boy traveling with you?"

"This is her son, White Robin," Lola said. "I'm Lola Robin. We are from the Twin Creeks region."

"He's like snow—hard to look at with the midday sun bouncing off of him. If I hear any news of importance, ma'am, I'll get word of it over to Twin Creeks pronto. Good luck to both of you, and may the Great Spirit be with you and lead you to them."

"Thank you," Lola said.

They were at a truck stop parking lot near the intersection where the double black roads crossed. "Follow me," Lola said.

They flew up to the top of a giant metal power-line pole. It was taller than the tallest tree White Robin had ever seen. They crowded onto the tiny flat spot on the very top of the pole. "We have to head back home now, White Robin," said Lola. "But that doesn't mean we're giving up hope. Do you understand? We must never give up hope!"

"I understand."

"Look hard in every direction for pigeons...Do you see any?"

White Robin looked around in all directions, "No," he said. "I see no other pigeons."

"If you were out here all alone, all by yourself, little bird, which way would you go to get back home?"

White Robin didn't even have to look in that direction. All birds know that pigeons have the greatest homing skills on the planet. He wondered why Lola would ask him such a simple question. Just fly straight home. It would be senseless and twice as far to return via the dogleg path they had taken to get there. White Robin remembered what Levi had said when they were in the apple tree. That sore and empty place in his chest had been growing all morning. _When you leave the nest she won't have any more to do with you from then on._ His throat got tight. He couldn't swallow. Tears welled up in his eyes.

"Please don't leave me out here, Lola. I promise I won't complain about robin food anymore...and you can have your nest back. I don't think I—"

"Oh, dear little bird. I would never leave you, never." She wrapped her wings around White Robin and held him tight. "Never, never, never. I was just checking to see if your homing skills are working properly. Let's go. Lead us both home, my precious little bird."

### Chapter 24

Cindy Cinnamon flew up to the top of a power line pole and scanned the far horizon. "There they are!" she squealed. The shiny birds landing and taking off were tiny specks of dust glittering in the distance, probably unperceivable to any other eyes on the planet save for pigeons'.

Then she glimpsed two birds leaving the top of a pole a ways down the line from her. Too far away to tell what kind they were, although one was pure white. It could've been an egret or a gull, since they were the most common white birds of that approximate size in the region. Cindy quickly ruled those birds out; only a bird with eyes of a pigeon, on a mission, like her, would land on a place taller than the tallest trees. Her heart was racing, and so was her thinking. She noted the direction they were going, and after some quick calculating she figured out exactly where they would cross paths.

Cindy flew back to a grape vineyard next to the poultry farm, where the scouts were lounging. "Let's go, scouts! I spotted the shiny birds. We're almost there."

### Chapter 25

The countryside changed from endless forestland and rugged mountains to wide open hayfields with big rolled hay bales big around as a tractor's rear wheels, waiting to be collected and patchy clumps of trees on gentle rolling hills. The scouts spotted more red-tail hawks in the two miles they'd covered since leaving the poultry farm than they had during the entire journey. The mice, rabbits, moles, and grass snakes were very abundant and easy to catch in the hayfields.

They were flying leisurely along, treetop high, following Cindy's lead. Tensions over encountering falcon hawks had eased way down, mostly because their bellies were full and they were safely past the big woods.

"What if this White Robin guy is gone when we get there, Cindy?" Pebo asked."Then what are we going to do?"

"We wait for him to return," said Cindy.

"What if he went out looking for his momma? He could be gone for days," said Dodger.

"Or even weeks," said Swifty.

"We'll talk to the wise elder they call Granny Gray Squirrel. She'll know his whereabouts."

"He won't venture too far away," said Falcon Eddie. "He'll be hanging close to home, at least for the first few days."

"Falcon hawks!" screamed Swifty.

Everybody bristled up. "Where?"

"Over there behind those hay bales. I saw two of them."

Falcon hawks were generally smaller than a pigeon, and often called sparrow hawks. To them pigeons were domesticated fools—fast, but not all that dangerous. Unlike their close cousins, the little pigeon hawks out on the western plains, these little falcons did not set out to kill pigeons; it's just that pigeons made perfect targets for the young falcons to practice their hunting skills.

Right then a flock of doves flew up from behind the hay bales.

"Those are doves, you fool!" said Pebo.

Something struck Pebo's shoulder, and some feathers flew off his wing. "One got me! They're attacking."

"They tricked us," yelled Falcon Eddie. "How bad is it, Pebo?"

"Just lost a few feathers, is all."

"Stay close, scouts. Don't let them split us up," yelled Cindy.

Cindy did rollovers, then hairpin turns straight up, straight down, this way, and that, and still the falcons were zooming at them from every direction.

Swifty had lagged behind the formation a tad too much.

Thump, "Ow! I'm hit! I'm bleeding."

Cindy dove down and leveled off, tall hay grass touching their bellies. "Drop out and hide in the grass, Swifty," she yelled. "I'll come back for you! How many, scouts?"

"Three!" shouted Falcon Eddie.

"Four!" cried Dodger. "Another one just joined them."

"That must be their momma," yelled Falcon Eddie. He broke formation. "I'm _moan_ learn her something for turning out _them_ mean little chiggers." Falcon Eddie flew hard, straight at her. At a precise moment before colliding he did a perfect backward rollover and jabbed a claw into the momma falcon's eye. The momma falcon shrieked and fled away.

"Pebo, Dodger, fly high as the tower." Cindy broke formation to go cover Falcon Eddie's back.

Falcon Eddie tried that same trick again, but this time he missed and the tip of the falcon's razor-sharp beak slashed Eddie's bad leg on the thigh. At that moment something bright flashed by Eddie and slammed into the falcon's back. The falcon screeched and tore out following his momma.

Eddie could not believe his eyes. A red robin and a white pigeon were flying tandem, nose to tail, at incredible speed, heading straight for another falcon. From a distance they looked like one bird. Just when they got to the other falcon they split apart. It must've scared the wits out of the young Flacon, for pigeons are not supposed to fight back. He shook his head fiercely, then lit out the way his momma and brother had gone.

The one remaining falcon hawk screamed, "That's a robin!" She had been taught early on not to ever mess with a robin. She chased after the other falcon hawks.

Cindy had caught up with Falcon Eddie. "How bad is it?"

"I don't know, Miss Cindy. I'm afraid to look."

"Does it hurt?"

"Naw, that leg's been numb since the first time they boogered it."

"Head for those hay bales. I'm going to find Swifty."

Lola and White Robin continued to chase the falcon hawks well out of the area.

A short while later Cindy returned to the hay bales with Swifty. Pebo and Dodger were gawking at Falcon Eddies battle wound.

"How is he?" Eddie asked.

"He got nicked on the shoulder and lost a little blood, but other than being shook up pretty bad, I think he'll be okay. Let me look at your leg."

Cindy studied Eddie's leg. "Thank goodness it's not a deep cut. It's just below the skin."

"Probably won't even leave scar worth bragging about," said Pebo.

"Glad to hear it," said Eddie. "Did you guys see em?"

"I saw them," said Cindy. "And I saw that trick you pulled. Good thing you have a witness, because no one would ever believe you jabbed the eye of a momma falcon hawk and lived to tell about it."

"He what?" gasped the scouts.

"I never seen a team work together as good as them two," said Falcon Eddie. "He's building quite a name for such a young sprout fresh out the nest. You reckon that was your boy, Miss Cindy?"

"My heart says it's him," cooed Cindy.

"They're turning around and heading back!" Swifty said.

Lola and White Robin sailed back and circled the hay bales. They landed a bale over from the scouts and pored over them for a bit. White Robin could not take his eyes off of Cindy. She was almost as pretty as his momma. No, she was as pretty. No, she was slightly prettier. No, she was beautiful beyond any comparison.

Cindy could not take her eyes off of White Robin. The sunshine reflecting off his white feathers cast a bright halo all around him. He looked like an angel sent down from above. She wanted to touch his feathers to see if he was real.

"Are you guys all right?" Lola asked.

"We have two wounded. The rest of us are fine," said Dodger.

"May I tend to them?" Lola asked. "I have doctoring skills."

"Then get yourself on over here pronto, before I bleed out, Miss Lola," said Falcon Eddie.

Lola hopped over and glanced at Eddies cut. "Um!"

She turned her attention to Swifty, side-stepping over to examine his shoulder. "Uh, uh, uh. That'll be stiff and sore before bedtime. I'll be right back."

She flew over to a road ditch and plucked a leaf off a pokeweed shoot. She would have preferred a purple pokeberry, because it is as strong a disinfectant to birds as iodine is to people, but pokeberries were out of season. Lola rushed back to the hay bales, chewed the leaf to a pulp, dabbed the pulp on Swifty's wound. "That'll keep the flies off and numb the pain till morning."

"What about me, Miss Lola?" moaned Falcon Eddie. "The flies _is_ eating me alive."

"Your wound is not what's drawing them," Lola said. "How does a stinky Texas cowbird like you know my name? And why is a shifty looking old drifter like you traveling with these youngsters?"

"Easy now, ma'am! I can't answer _them_ kind of questions without _indescribing_ myself. You'll have to pose _them_ questions to our leader, the brave Miss Cindy Cinnamon over there. She'll vouch for me. But don't be too hasty about it. She's still busy ogling that young sprout ya'll call White Robin. She's trawled far and wide, and battled deadly falcon hawks to get the privilege to do that, ma'am, so let her take her time."

That kind of folksy bunkum didn't get very far with Lola. She rolled her eyes away from Falcon Eddie and shook her head. "Shifty, shifty, shifty."

Cindy was still clenching her lucky sunflower seed under her tongue and placed it at the white pigeon's feet. "Are you White Robin, first son of Savanna and foster son of the famous Lola Robin?"

"Yes."

The scouts all cheered, and then started guffawing in unison, like silly juveniles, "Cindy's got a boyfriend."

Cindy cast a scathing glance at them. "Knock it off!"

"Falcon Eddie started it," said Pebo.

Falcon Eddie looked away so that Cindy couldn't see his sheepish eyes.

Cindy turned her attention back to White Robin and regained her comportment. "Savanna is alive and well, staying over half a day's journey from here with my flock. She is injured and could not travel. She gets better with each passing hour. She misses you badly."

Levi's words echoed in his ears. _You'll find a girlfriend or she'll find you. Then together ya'll fill that sore and empty place in your chest back up to where it was when ya'll lived with Momma._ A wonderful sensation washed over him. Like the falcon hawks, that sore and empty place in his chest was now gone.

"I miss her too," he answered. "Can we relax now? The falcon hawks are gone."

"Yes, of course. These are the scouts who volunteered to help me find you; that's Swifty, that's Dodger, that's Pebo, and that's the Mighty Falcon Eddie. He charged that momma falcon head on and jabbed her in the eye."

White Robin peered over at Falcon Eddie, as if to make a mental note of him.

"I'm Cindy Cinnamon, and I adore Savanna. We became kindred spirits. My momma died before I had feathers. That must be the famous Lola Robin! She's a wonderful bird for taking you under her wing. The Great Spirit must be very proud of her!" Cindy realized she was babbling on without even taking a breath.

Lola hopped over to Cindy and placed her wing on Cindy's head. "Catch your breath, little bird. You can rest easy now. Your mission is accomplished. The Great Spirit is smiling down on all of us."

"I truly hope so," Cindy stammered. "I truly hope so."

### Chapter 26

No one noticed when Drew drove down the side street past his cabin and turned up Rick's driveway. He parked his truck close to Rick's trailer, and Rick got out of the passenger side carrying a cardboard shoebox. He looked into the box.

"You're home now buddy. You're home."

******

A strange pall fell over the kingdom. Granny Gray went to the door of her winter home and peered out. Standing there on the pavement in the middle of the side street, were two huge and imposing crows.

"I've been expecting you boys."

"We came as soon as we got word."

"You boys look trail worn. You must've traveled a great distance. I'll show you the place. It's close by; we can walk over to it."

Granny climbed down from the silver maple tree and led Dark Raven and his brother Tar Raven across the side street, past the mulberry tree where the jaybirds lived, past the woodpile, and on across the lawn. The small procession advanced slowly, solemnly, in single file with their heads hung low. A short moment later Granny stopped and pointed out the place on Drew's lawn.

There. There is the place where our leader, the Mighty Levi Raven, left us...to go be with the Great Spirit."

Granny wiped her eyes and backed away to let Dark Raven and Tar Raven perform their ritual. They stood there looking at the place for a long moment, and then they began chanting low and muffled sounds.

They crow-hopped around the place in a circle while flapping their wings.

Right then Jayleen Jaybird and her brothers came sailing up to the mulberry tree, yak, yak, yakking wildly, "The pigeons are coming home, Momma! The pigeons are coming home!"

White Robin was leading the formation with Cindy by his side. Lola had broken rank earlier and was heading down to Rock Creek to find Rock Robin.

The scouts circled the hay bales where the barn used to be, several times. Falcon Eddie, Pebo, Swifty, and Dodger landed on the hay bales, while White Robin landed in the apple tree at the very place where Levi had plucked the feather from his head. Cindy Cinnamon landed by his side.

Granny Gray Squirrel scurried up the apple tree and sat next to White Robin. She peered over at Cindy, and then to Falcon Eddie and the scouts with her wise and knowing eyes.

White Robin looked to the lawn beside Drew's cabin and studied Dark Raven and Tar Raven performing the ancient crow ritual for the dearly departed. He turned to Rick's trailer, thinking of Levi.

"Why did He choose me, Granny?"

She glanced at Dark Raven and Tar Raven, then to Rick's trailer.

"No one knows how or why the Great Spirit chooses his leaders, little bird. But one thing is certain for sure; we are all blessed to have them."

******

Inside Rick's trailer, at a large bay window, Rick placed a bed pillow on the sill. He reached into the shoebox next to it and tenderly removed its contents and laid them on the pillow.

Levi raised his head weakly. He was wrapped head to toe in bandages. He looked out the window to the apple grove and saw White Robin, Granny Gray Squirrel, and Cindy Cinnamon in the apple tree, and then he saw Falcon Eddie and the scouts milling around on the hay bales.

He looked over to the place where Dark Raven and Tar Raven were performing their dance, and then he gazed down at his leg. The shiny leg-band had been removed.

Levi lowered his head to the pillow and lolled off to sleep. A bright dream came to him. He was flying leisurely and uninhibited around his kingdom with his famous cousins, the Mighty Dark Raven and his brother the Mighty Tar Raven.

*** The End ***

Lee King lives with a little dog named Rudy, in North West Arkansas, near the XNA regional airport. The setting for White Robin's kingdom is the view from the front porch of their little cabin house, across the side-street from Lola's apple tree. The cover picture was taken by Lee King from a section of White Robin's Kingdom.

Look for ( _A Dove Descending)_ a mainstream romance coming soon to Smashwords.com.
