A Snowy Robin Rescue

  The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is the UK’s largest animal charity. They rescue, look after and rehome hundreds of thousands of animals each year in England and Wales. They also offer advice on caring for all animals and campaign to change laws that will protect them. Their work relies on your support, and buying this book helps them save animals’ lives.

  www.rspca.org.uk

  Content

  Cover

  Half Title Page

  RSPCA

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  The Real-Life Rescue

  Facts About Robins

  Sneak Peek of Bad Day for Badger

  RSCPA: Collect the Whole Series

  Join the RSPCA!

  Copyright

  Evan loved the last day of term. It was as if the holidays had crept into the classroom. Even though there were ten more minutes of the lesson to go, everyone was chatting and Miss Parker wasn’t stopping them. She had paired them all up and asked them to draw Christmas cards. Evan looked down at his picture of a reindeer. Hmm, he thought. It doesn’t look very much like a reindeer. He should really start again, but right now, all he could think about was Christmas.

  “Evan, you’re not even trying!” said his best friend, Hannah. “You’re just chewing your pencil.”

  “I know,” said Evan, sighing. “I’m thinking about all the presents under the tree.” There was already a little pile of them, and Evan had sat up last night trying to feel what might be inside each one. The trouble was, his little sister Poppy kept trying to unwrap them. She’d already opened her own presents twice, and Evan had only just stopped her getting hold of his.

  “Poppy’s getting a set of plastic saucepans,” said Evan. “But before she gets through any more wrapping paper, Mum’s hidden them in the larder.”

  Hannah giggled at the idea of presents in the larder. Evan’s little sister was only two, but she was very good at getting her own way.

  “So what do you think you’ll get for Christmas?” Evan asked.

  “I’ve asked for a sketch pad and paints,” Hannah replied, without looking up from her drawing. “I really hope I get them.”

  “I bet you will,” said Evan. “Your mum knows how much you love drawing. I’ve asked for—”

  “A new racing-car game for your Xbox?” Hannah finished for him.

  Evan laughed. “How did you guess?”

  “Because you’ve been talking about it all week,” Hannah pointed out.

  Evan tried to peek at what Hannah was drawing, but her paper was hidden behind a curtain of hair. He glanced out of the window instead, taking in the heavy, grey skies. “Do you think it’s going to snow? Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a white Christmas!”

  At this, Hannah looked up from her picture, brushing her fringe out of her eyes. “Ooh!” she said, her eyes shining. “It looks like it might! I can’t wait to make a snowman.”

  “And I can’t wait to go sledging,” said Evan. “I want to see how fast I can go down Shooter’s Hill. We’ve got two sledges at home, so we could have a race!”

  Hannah laughed. “OK, I’ll race you. But only if we can have a snowman competition, too.”

  Evan looked over at Hannah’s picture. “Hey, that’s really good,” he said, catching a glimpse of a sleigh piled high with presents.

  “I told you not to look,” said Hannah, pretending to swat him with her ruler. “It’s not finished yet.”

  “OK!” said Evan, holding up his hands. “I promise I won’t peek.” He stared out of the window again, wondering if it was going to snow. He noticed the clouds seemed to have got lower and heavier. They must be full of snow, Evan thought. And it was freezing outside, too. Everyone had arrived at school this morning with pink noses.

  “Finished!” Hannah declared at last. “Let’s swap cards. You go first.”

  Feeling slightly ashamed now, Evan handed her his picture of a reindeer.

  “It doesn’t look quite right, does it?” he said.

  “You’ve given it six legs,” Hannah pointed out. “And what’s that fruit on its head?”

  “It’s not a fruit! Those are antlers.”

  “Oh,” said Hannah, trying not to smile.

  “Let’s see yours then,” said Evan.

  Hannah passed it over. “Wow!” said Evan. It was a picture of a boy in a racing car, zooming past Father Christmas on his sleigh. The boy had freckled cheeks, a snub-nose and a huge grin on his face.

  “That looks just like me!” laughed Evan. Hannah had drawn go-faster stripes along the side of the car and a little cartoon robin was holding up the flag at the finish line. Underneath it said, “Merry Christmas Evan.”

  “Yes, well done, Hannah,” added Miss Parker, coming over to take a look. “You can have a merit card next term for that.”

  Hannah blushed and Evan could tell she was embarrassed. Hannah was always much quieter than he was, and would never boast about her art, so he thought it was great when other people realized how good she was.

  “I’m going to keep this,” said Evan, putting the card in his school bag. “Then when you’re a famous artist I’ll sell it for lots of money!” he joked.

  Just then, the bell rang and the classroom cheered. “It’s the Christmas holidays!” someone yelled.

  “Not too rowdy now,” said Miss Parker, only just managing to make herself heard over all the voices and the scraping of chairs. “Have a lovely Christmas, everyone. Don’t forget your coats and hats.”

  “Merry Christmas, Miss Parker,” the class chorused back, as they all made a dash for the door.

  Out in the playground, the very first snowflakes were beginning to fall. Everyone stared up at the leaden skies and the tiny white flakes drifting down. For a moment, everyone was still, as if spellbound by the magic of snow. “Wow!” said Evan. “Just in time for the holidays.”

  “Let’s catch them!” someone cried, and as if the spell had been broken, they all began rushing around, giddy with excitement, snatching at the snowflakes with their gloved hands.

  “I’ve caught one on my tongue,” cried Evan proudly.

  Hannah stood apart, watching everyone whirl around, leaping and darting after the tiny flakes of snow. Bright woolly hats and trailing scarves made the playground seem alive with colour. Hannah’s fingers itched to paint it all.

  She held out her black coat sleeves, marvelling at the tiny, perfect snowflakes that landed on them. In the fading light, she could just make out their intricate patterns.

  The snowflake game had turned into tag, and Hannah’s friend Beth was soon grabbing her arm, urging her to join in. Evan immediately chased after them, making vrooming noises like a racing car.

  “Got you!” he cried, quickly catching up with them.

  They carried on playing even as the school playground emptied. Parents arrived, picking up their children, calling out for them to zip up their coats and find their hats.

  “Come on, Evan,” said Hannah, as the teachers began shooing everyone gently out of the gates.

  “Do you want to come back to mine?” asked Evan. His house was only three doors away from Hannah’s, so they spent most of their time in and out of each other’s houses. “We’ve got hot chocolate and mince pies at home.”

  “Deal!” said Hannah, grinning.

  Evan spent a few moments hunting around for his scarf, then followed Hannah towards
the gates.

  “Merry Christmas!” he called out to his friends.

  “Merry Christmas!” they called back. “Bye, Evan! Bye, Hannah!”

  They started walking quickly through the snow, Evan looking forward to tucking into one of his mum’s mince pies. Hannah was still looking all around, loving how the snow changed everything. She spotted a squirrel ahead of them, scattering small showers of snow as it leaped from branch to branch.

  “I expect the squirrel is looking for food, too,” she said. “Perhaps he’s trying to remember where he buried all his nuts.”

  “I’m glad I don’t have to remember things like that,” said Evan. “I’d be a hopeless squirrel!”

  Hannah giggled, while Evan flung out his arms. “I, Evan Smith, declare that this snow is here to stay,” he announced.

  “Really?” said Hannah. “And how would you know?”

  “Look at the treetops and the fence posts! Everything’s starting to get a layer of snow.” He looked at Hannah, his eyes gleaming with fun.

  “Enough for a snowball fight?” asked Hannah.

  “You read my mind,” said Evan.

  As he spoke, they both reached down and began scooping up snow in their hands. Evan finished his snowball first, sending it flying towards Hannah. It landed with a small thud against her padded coat.

  “I’ll get you for that,” laughed Hannah.

  Soon they were running down the street, throwing tiny snowballs at each other.

  “Oh!” cried Hannah suddenly. “Look up!”

  “Is this a trick to get one down my neck?” asked Evan.

  “No,” laughed Hannah. “It’s really not.” She held up her hands to show she had no snowballs. Then, together, they both gazed up at the sky. The flakes of snow were fatter now, swirling down from the grey clouds, sparkling where they caught the light of the street lamps.

  “I love snow,” said Hannah, grinning. “It feels as if Christmas has already started.”

  They took a turn down a little side road, that led to the cul-de-sac where they lived. It wasn’t far now, so they ambled along slowly, wanting to make the most of the first flurry of snowflakes.

  Evan had starting chatting again about the racing-car game he wanted, while Hannah let her gloved fingers trail along the top of the wall, tracing patterns in the light layer of snow.

  “Wait a moment,” said Hannah. She stopped to draw a cartoon robin on the top of the wall. This time she added a twig of holly for him to perch on.

  “It’s like snow graffiti,” said Evan. He added a six-legged reindeer beside the robin and Hannah laughed. “Draw something else,” Evan urged her.

  Hannah looked around for inspiration, then spotted a fat black cat in the window of the house opposite. He was curled up behind the curtain, looking very pleased with himself. As Hannah looked at him he opened his green eyes and blinked at them.

  Hannah quickly did a snow-sketch of him on the wall, next to Evan’s reindeer.

  “You’ve got him perfectly,” said Evan. “He looks all warm and cosy. Actually, that’s why snow is so great. You get to have fun playing outside in it, and then be all warm and cosy inside.”

  “I know!” said Hannah. “And right now I can’t wait for one of your mum’s mince pies. Hers are the best.”

  “That’s what comes of having a mum who used to work as a chef,” said Evan, proudly. “I think she misses it a bit now she’s looking after Poppy. But on the plus side, it means we get amazing food at home!”

  As they walked into the cul-de-sac,away from the noise of the cars, everything became oddly quiet and muffled. The street lamps above them had taken on an eerie glow, the yellow lights shrouded in a halo of snow.

  This is going to be the best Christmas ever, thought Evan.

  Up ahead, they could see the lights were shining from the houses and Hannah could just make out the Christmas trees in people’s windows, the shining baubles and the twinkling fairy lights. “Everything looks like a Christmas card, doesn’t it?” she said.

  “I hope it keeps snowing all night,” Evan went on. “Then we’ll wake up to fresh snow everywhere. That’s one of my favourite things – running through fresh, crisp snow before anything else has touched it.”

  “Apart from animal tracks,” Hannah pointed out. “I remember it snowed a couple of years ago, and we saw these sweet little bird tracks all over our back garden. There were fox footprints, too.”

  “Talking of tracks,” said Evan, pointing back the way they’d come, “look at ours!”

  Hannah glanced down at their footprints, meandering side by side along the pavement.

  “Let’s make a trail!” said Evan. They began running around in circles, weaving in and out of each other, admiring the marks they left behind. It had gone so quiet, all Evan could hear was the satisfying crunch of his feet sinking into the fluffy snow.

  “If anyone was trying to follow us,” Hannah pointed out, “they would be very confused. Hey,” she added, “watch this.” She carefully placed her feet in Evan’s footprints, so that her own disappeared from view.

  “Neat,” said Evan. “Not as good as this though!” And he started walking backwards. “This would really confuse someone.”

  “Watch out!” Hannah cried, having to stop herself from laughing as Evan collided with a bush. All the freshly fallen snow on the leaves landed directly on his head, making him look like he was wearing a blobby white hat.

  “Don’t laugh,” said Evan, shaking off the snow.

  “I’m trying not to,” said Hannah. But a small giggle escaped from her lips, and she found that once she’d started laughing, she couldn’t stop. Then she realized that Evan was making an enormous snowball.

  “OK, OK, I’ve stopped laughing!” she protested, as Evan took aim.

  Then, in the silence that followed, she heard a faint noise coming from the hedge nearby.

  “Wait!” she said, suddenly. “Can you hear that?”

  “What?” asked Evan, still holding on to his snowball. “If you’re trying to distract me, it’s not going to work.”

  “No, really,” insisted Hannah. “I can hear a sort of chirping noise.”

  Evan dropped his snowball and began to listen. “Yes!” he said. “I can hear it, too.”

  Together they approached the hedge in the direction where the sound was coming from. “I think it’s this way,” said Hannah.

  They tiptoed forward, trying to be as quiet as they could. They were nearly at Evan’s house now.

  “Oh, it’s gone quiet,” whispered Evan. “I can’t hear it any more. Perhaps it’s flown away. Hot chocolate here we come,” he added. “Let’s go inside. My feet are frozen, and I’m not sure I can feel my fingers any more.”

  He began heading in the direction of his house, but Hannah didn’t move.

  “Evan, wait!” she said, gesturing to him. “Please, come back!” She didn’t know why, but she had a funny feeling about the bird, as if it were somehow calling to her. There was something distressing about the sound of its chirping. “Are you sure you can’t hear it?” She paused for a moment, straining her ears, then she heard the chirping sound again, fainter than before, but definitely nearby. Evan must have heard it too, as he turned and walked back towards the hedge.

  Together, they crept forward, following the chirping sound. Hannah could feel her heart beating fast in her chest, as if she’d just run a great distance, though she wasn’t sure why. With trembling hands, she reached out and parted the snow-laden leaves. At first it was hard to see anything in the dark winter afternoon, but then she shifted her position slightly, and the light from the street lamp beamed down on them.

  “There it is!” she breathed. On the ground, where the bottom of the hedge met the pavement, was a little robin. She heard Evan gasp beside her.

  “A lovely Christmas robin,” Hann
ah whispered, as they gazed at it. “Isn’t he beautiful?” she added, admiring his glossy red breast. The robin had his head cocked to one side, clearly watching them with his shining black eyes. His head and back were pale brown, just like the bark on the plane trees that lined their street.

  “I’ve never seen one this close before,” said Evan.

  “Oh, look,” said Hannah, still keeping her voice to a whisper. “He’s got a little white spot under his red breast. Isn’t that cute?”

  “And he’s so tame,” marvelled Evan, as the robin chirped at them again. “I can’t believe he’s not flying away.”

  “We have a blackbird like that in our garden,” said Hannah. “He always comes down to say hello when my dad’s gardening. Sometimes he just sits on my dad’s spade and watches him. I think he hopes my dad is going to dig up some worms for him.”

  “That sounds really cool,” said Evan. He looked back down at the robin. “My granddad told me once that robins are really territorial, always defending their own little patch. But I can’t believe it looking at this one. He doesn’t look like he’d get into a fight.”

  Hannah laughed. “I think that’s mainly in winter, when there’s less food around. I love how they stay with us all through the year, though, and don’t fly away like other birds.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Evan.

  “You know!” said Hannah. “Like the swifts and swallows that come for summer, and then fly back to Africa in winter.”

  “No way!” said Evan. “All the way to Africa? I never knew that. How come you know so much about birds?”

  “Probably for the same reason you know so much about computer games,” said Hannah, smiling. “I just like them.”

  They got up to go, but Hannah put her arm out to stop Evan. “Don’t you think it’s odd,” she said quietly, “that this robin hasn’t moved at all?”

  “You’re right,” said Evan. “It’s still chirping, but it does seem weirdly still. Do you think this one’s been injured?”

  “It’s hard to see now the light’s fading,” said Hannah. “I can’t really make out its legs at all.”