Robin Robinson

Carlisle

Sure enough, they arrived right on time. Robinson was very excited but also extremely tired. Part of him wanted to start searching for Sara and her parents straightaway, but he knew it would probably be better to have a good night's sleep first. Not only that but Splotch's suggestion that a friend of his had a nice comfortable home on a roof sounded too good to refuse.

Robinson woke with the dawn and felt quite refreshed. A rumble in his tummy made him realise he hadn't eaten anything since the previous morning. In fact he was starving. So after a quick stretch, he told Splotch he had to leave. The sparrow's friend told him he was welcome to return anytime.

The little robin hadn't told the sparrow why he wanted to go to Carlisle. And neither did he intend to. Robinson, you see, didn't trust other birds or people easily and, anyway, he simply felt it was better to keep his business private.

Although the bird was excited to start his search, he first needed breakfast. Two tasty worms later he began what he guessed would be a very difficult task. He was right. Despite the many miles he flew that day, his efforts were totally unproductive. Finally, tired and a little disappointed, he decided to rest for the night and soon found a nice tree, which as luck would have it was right next to Brunton Park, Carlisle United's home ground. He had fond memories of the team, because one of the first games he ever attended was when Bournemouth played Carlisle at Vitality Stadium. It was a good match and what made it even better for the robin was that Bournemouth won 3-1.

..........

Day 2 of the search. It was equally unsuccessful.

The third also.

The fourth.

And the fifth.

When he woke up on the sixth day he suddenly realised he had searched the whole city.

"My dream happened in this city, so I will just have to search everything again," Robinson decided grimly.

So he flew and flew and covered every square metre of the city. No trace of his beloved Sara and her parents.

At the end of his seventh day of fruitless searching, just as he was thinking of finding a nice comfortable branch for the night, he heard somebody call out: "Robinson". "Hmmm," he thought, "a human with the same name as me." Or was it? Just to be sure, the tired robin decided to see who had called out. But the street it came from was quite crowded with people hurrying to wherever humans hurry to. "With this many people it'll be impossible to find who called my name," he reluctantly decided. But rather than give up, he took a closer look and began scanning every face carefully. And then, just outside a little vegetable shop, he saw a face he had almost given up hope of ever seeing again... a very familiar face.