Robin Robinson

Told you!

He could barely believe his eyes. Sara's mother!

He listened carefully. She was actually talking to someone about him. "It's all very sad," she told the shop owner. "Ever since we moved here a couple of weeks ago, my daughter Sara has been so sad and crying herself every night."

"Oh why?" asked the shopkeeper. "Doesn't she like Carlisle."

"Oh no, it's not that," Sara's mother quickly explained. "She is just heartbroken she had to leave her special friend behind, a beautiful little robin, that went just about everywhere with her. We had to leave so suddenly while he was away that we never had a chance to bring him with us."

"Oh well," said the kindly greengrocer. "Things will turn out alright. They always do," he assured her.

Just at that moment Robinson, dizzy with happiness, arrived, whirling and dipping in circles of sheer joy and relief just above her head, hooting with uncontrolled excitement. Sara's mother couldn't believe her eyes either. Was it really the sweet little robin she once fed every day? "It surely is", she realised as the happy little bird suddenly landed on her shoulder.

"Aha," said the shopkeeper with a knowing smile. "Told you."

Then, still perched on the woman's shoulder, they both headed to what he later realised was the new family home. Robinson actually thought he was going to burst with happiness as he realised he would soon see his dear Sara. And her dad. He couldn't understand why he hadn't found them before, especially considering their home was very close to the tree where he had been sleeping at night.

A few minutes later he got his answer. They lived in a house - a basement apartment actually - that was not only below ground level but was also quite hidden by trees. "I already searched here," he thought, "but clearly not well enough!" But there was no point being angry with himself. Nothing mattered anymore except for the fact that after wearily flying many hundreds of miles, he had finally found his beloved family.

Just at that moment Sara happened to look through a window. At first she just saw her mother but then burst into tears of happiness as she realised that sitting on her shoulder was the little robin she had thought she would never see again.

What followed was a night of celebration. Robinson even got to meet Sara's grandparents. His human family was clearly getting bigger, he thought.

Robinson also learned what happened after all, unexpected financial difficulties had forced Sara and her parents to leave their farm while he had been off on his travels. And because he hadn't been around Sara had been unable to explain they had no choice but to live with her grandparents in Carlisle instead. And with the offer of some good jobs there selling the farm made very good sense. Sara waited and waited for Robinson to return and when moving day finally arrived and there was still no sign of him, she cried and cried.

Robinson learned all that from Sara, who somehow knew he could understand human language. And that made her even more special to little Robinson.

After being reunited, they all went on to live very happily in Carlisle. Robinson learnt an important lesson from what had happened... Sara and her family were much more important than flying all over the country. Never again, he decided, would he ever leave for more than a few hours.

And there was an unexpected bonus. Sara's mother suddenly discovered that football was actually quite exciting and that maybe her husband and daughter weren't simply wasting their time watching 22 grown men kicking an air-filled ball around a large piece of grass. Now, whenever Sara, her dad and Robinson went to watch a match at Brunton Park stadium, she came along, too. This, the little Robin decided, was what true happiness felt like.

By the way, Robinson ended up with a new leafy home just outside the family's new place. A majestic oak called Brunton Tree.