The Robins

“You told me it would be warm Reggie.” said Ryla with a shiver.

“It is warm, stop complaining.”

Two robins were standing on a frosted fence in an unassuming back yard, on the Tuesday of March sixth. Two weeks too early for spring.

The silence between the two siblings was getting to Reggie He cocked his head toward his sister Ryla and chirped,

“Do you know when it’s spring Ryla?”

She said nothing.

“Old Ronnie gave me a list. He said we can call it spring when the temperatures warm up, the flowers bloom, and when our family shows up.”

Ryla; unimpressed with this answer, and whirled around to face Reggie;

“If we are the robins, and we are here on this frozen fence, then where are the flowers, and the warmth Old Ronnie promised?”  Reggie paused and fluffed his feathers.

“Don’t you see it’s cold?” “and don’t forget about the mud. The endless mud that spring always happens to bring.” She added.

Reggie was silent, deep in thought, for a fleeting moment he was quiet. Not for long. he squawked;

“There is only one solution We’ve been tricked by Old Ronnie..” “Don't you see? There are no crocuses. No blue skies, and it just finished snowing, so the ground is hard as rock.”

He paused.

“We've been tricked,” the brother insisted.

Ryla swooped off of the fence to perch on a thick branch of a nearby tree to get away from her brother. He followed her,

“You see I have a point. I see snowflakes, and no sign of rain.” Reggie stated.

“Yes” replied Ryla, refusing to believe she’d been duped by her father, Old Ronnie.

“ I see that cat over there, sitting in the window. The owner would let it outside if it was spring, correct?” 

“Yes?” The sister was beginning to feel quite cross “I’m going to go find somewhere to wait for Spring to come, who knows how long we will have to wait” Ryla left in a huff.

Left perched on the tree branch was a confused Reggie. What was happening?

A week had passed since the early birds had arrived in their home town for spring. But there were no worms for them.

Reggie and Ryla were sitting on the fence again, watching the sky.

“I don’t see what scowling at the sky will do to help the spring come.” chided Reggie

“It wont. I don’t know what else to do. “ said Ryla flatly.

“ we should fly around the yard; and see!” Reggie chirped, in his usual optimistic mood.

“See what?” was the only answer that she could give him, and just the one he wanted.

The two birds swooped down from the tree they were perched in, and flew toward the house and yard.

“You see? Look down at the grass.” said Reggie eagerly.

“ I don’t see anything” grumped his sister

“Right there! Next to the house, those purple flowers?”

Ryla gawked at the purple buds and yellow blooms in disbelief.

“Are those crocuses? And… daffodils?”

“You betcha sister, we've been here for only a week, but I know spring is coming!”

The two birds continued to watch with a keen eye for signs of ‘Old Ronnie’s timeline of spring. ’ With the first one found, spring flowers.

They found the next sign four days later when the birds were down on the fence. Waiting for the sun to warm their feathers, when Reggie had a revelation.

“The fence!” squawked Reggie.

Ryla, for once had already noticed, decided to give Reggie the win, and replied;

“What about the fence?”

“Don’t you see? The fence isn’t frosted, at all!”

“ You’re right, and feel the sun!” she said as she stretched her wings toward the morning sun.

The birds swooped around the yard with newfound vigor. With the excitement that only the changing seasons could bring. Even Ryla was slightly upbeat. By now, the duo had crossed another item off of Ronnie’s “timeline of spring” and were about to cross off the third one. Mud.

“Reggie, look out!” screeched Ryla, “The dog!”

And she was right. The dog from the cat-in-the-window-house was galloping across the yard,

with muddy paws. (Toward the pair who were innocently perched on a birdbath.)

With a screech, the two were flapping for their lives toward the safety of their tree next to the house.

“That stupid dog.” Ryla flapped to disperse the water droplets off her wings.

“Ryla look at the dog!” said Reggie, ignoring her complaints. “He’s all muddy!”

“Mud?”

The two stared at each other in excitement.

“Mud!” they squealed, both hopping up and down on their branch.

“We can cross another thing off of Ronnie's timeline! So far we've got, flowers, warm temperatures,”

“Mud.”

“Yes; let’s not forget the mud. So that means we only have one more thing left, and that’s our friends!” Both birds stopped mid breath and craned their necks to the sky in anticipation. Nothing happened.

So they waited.

For three days the two robins waited.

“Look Ryla! They're coming!”

“That's a plastic bag again, Reggie.” Ryla snapped without looking up.

“No, not this time, look up Ryla!”

She did look, and what she saw made her dive off of the tree branch and swoop into the sky.

“They're here!” screeched Ryla in excitement.

Reggie joined in the excitement and dove after her. They soared in circles above the yard until the birds they saw came close enough to call.

Reggie and Ryla screeched a greeting to Old Ronnie the robin, who was leading the group.

“Old Ronnie! You made it back safely!” squawked Ryla.

Her joy spoiled to anger quickly.

“Why, did you send me down here with my brother Reggie!?” “We were two weeks early, and he squawked the whole time!” Reggie took no notice of her complaining.

“I had to listen to him squawk for two weeks and endure freezing weather, and even had a muddy dog chase me. What is your excuse Ronnie?”

The family of birds had now reached the fence and were perched in a neat row. With a thoughtful pause, old Ronnie asked his daughter this;

“You had fun with your brother though, didn’t you?”

Ryla looked to Ronnie, then to Reggie, then to her family perched on the fence.

And she replied with a quiet chirp,

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I did.”