The Adventures of White Robin

By lee king

An Ozark coming of age story about an orphaned pigeon, raised by a robin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: lee king
• Release date: Apr 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476373508

lee king

Wildlife photographer,paddel boating, golf, and writing books.

Book preview

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

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.

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