Lucky Alex

Lucky Alex

By John W. Vander Velden

 

Alex raced up the stairs to his room.  His mom had just brought the boy home from baseball practice, and he couldn’t wait.  He knew he was a luck guy, because of the robin’s nest outside his window.  Each day he would sit quietly and watch the birds so close at hand.  Just this morning he had witnessed the first baby as it escaped its powder blue prison, and hoped that in his absence the others had joined.  As Alex tiptoed across his floor and took his seat in the chair by the window, he did not notice that this toy trucks had been gathered from their scattered abandonments and placed carefully away.  While he looked awestruck at the nest’s new additions, his stuffed bear watched him from its place on the perfectly made bed.  The lad remained motionless as he considered the labor the nest’s construction had required.  He remembered how day by day mud and straw woven, a home for the babies’ birth and growth.  He smiled as he watched the mama Robin land upon the nest’s rim tilt her head, the young stretching upward with mouths open.  She stuffed her gift into a hungry mouth and flitted away. 

Time passed.  Alex did not notice the scent of homemade soup drift up the stairs and into his room. He watched as Mr. and Mrs. Robin came over and over again, feeding one, then another, their labor unending.  Transfixed, he did not consider the clean clothing that waited him in closet or drawer, and barely heard the call to dinner.  Moving away from his chair with care he headed down.  Yes, Alex was a lucky boy, perhaps one day he will know just how lucky…

(286 Words)                  5-5-2015