“It’s time to get our bikes ready for the summer,” announced Daddy.
“Good,” said Mother. “It’s been a long winter. You will need to give Fawn, Emily and Miah refresher lessons on bike safety. Do you think Beni will be too big for his seat?”
“He’s a too little to young bike yet.”
“He is getting sort of large for the carrier. I’ll check to see to see if it is still sturdy enough for one more season.”
Daddy took his tools in the shed where the bikes were stored. He rolled the bikes out, tightened things that needed tightened, oiled gears and checked the tire pressure Emily’s bike needed a new brake cable, Miah’s needed some paint, Beni’s child carrier was loose but after it was tightened up it as would do for this year. It took Daddy about 3 hours to get the bikes ready to ride. Since it was going to rain, he lined them up back in the shed.
A few days later when Daddy got home from work, they all got ready to bike to Memorial Park which was about 3 miles away. They packed lunches and filled their canteens. Then they went out to get the bikes. That’s when the trouble started.
Daddy went in to take out the bikes and as he did a mother cardinal flew off crying loudly to her mate. When Daddy came out of the shed, he said seriously, “We can’t go biking for a month.”
“I thought you had worked on the bikes and got them ready,” protested Mother.
“I did, but there’s a serious block in the child carrier seat that overrides our need to bike.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Fawn. She was going to go into the shed.
“Just a minute. We all go in once, we look and we leave.”
Daddy let them in to see a bird nest, which was neatly built in Beni’s child carrier seat.
“What kind of nest is it?” asked Emily.
“It’s a cardinal and I accidentally frightened her off the nest,” said Daddy. “We can walk to the park for picnics for a while. The little bird is trusting us to keep her babies safe from the grackles. Remember how last year the grackles destroyed the robin’s nest and the cardinals nest in the maple tree and ate the babies. Well, I suspect the cardinal thinks we’re less dangerous than the grackles so she’s hoping we will not bother her nest.”
“We won’t, Daddy,” said Fawn. “Can we look at it now and then.?”
“We’ll check on him once a week. Any more often than she may think it’s too dangerous and leave.”
“This reminds me of a verse in the Bible,” said Mother. “Can you guess which one?”
“In school we learned a verse in Psalms,” announced Fawn. “Psalms 34, verse 7, it says the angel of the Lord in camps around them that fear him and delivers them. Maybe she thinks we’re angels.”
“Funny angels with no wings,” Emily scoffed.
“I think Fawn has the right idea,” said Mother. “The cardinals know that the grackles are an enemy and that they cannot protect themselves from them. We have been made stewards of the Earth and maybe the birds hope we remember that too.
“We won’t bother them, and we’ll chase away any grackles. God wants us to help his animals when we can.”
The cardinals grew and fledged and left. Daddy took the bikes out and set them in the carport. Robins built a nest in the shed and the goldfinch nested in the road hedge; the yard was full of pretty colored singing and chattering birds.
The Peltons were well paid for their month of being without their bikes by the beautiful singing every morning.
Boys and girls, if you see a bird’s nest of eggs remember to leave it alone. Chase away your cats and grackles, and the birds will remember your kindness. They will come back every year to sing for you and will eat weed seeds and bugs that would hurt your garden.