CHAPTER 1

LaKisha looked out her bedroom window. "Mom, what kind of birds are those?" LaKisha's mom entered the room, put her arm around her daughter's shoulder, and said, "Those are cardinals, my dear."

"What are they doing?" asked LaKisha. "They are building a nest," said LaKisha's mom. LaKisha's eyes got real wide, "They're going to have babies?" asked LaKisha anxiously.

"Yes, I hope so."

"That would be awesome!" LaKisha looked up at her mom. "Why is one of the cardinals really bright red and the other one kind of brown?"

"The bright red one is the daddy cardinal and the brown one is the mama cardinal" said LaKisha's mom.

"I thought girls were prettier than boys," said LaKisha.

LaKisha's mom gave a little chuckle. "Well, my dear, in most animals the boys are naturally more colorful than the girls."

LaKisha gave her mom a weird look and smiled, "Is that why Daddy doesn't have to wear makeup and you do?"

LaKisha's mom just gave her a pat on the head, sighed and turned to look out the window to watch the birds busily making their nest.

* * *

Mama Cardinal was so excited. This was the day she had been waiting for, and her eggs were about to hatch. "Now calm down Mama," said Daddy Cardinal. "They're not going to hatch any faster with you standing over them."

"I'm just so excited. These will be our first children," said Mama Cardinal.

Suddenly, one of the eggs began to move ever so slightly. It rocked back and forth just a little bit, and then a crack appeared.

The crack got wider and wider and soon a little baby bird's head appeared.

"Oh!" shouted Mama Cardinal. The little baby bird struggled to get itself out of the egg. Mama Cardinal, who was sitting on the edge of the nest, moved forward to help the little bird. "No, Mama," said Daddy Cardinal as he put a wing out to hold her back, "he needs to do this by himself."

The baby bird made one last push, and out of the egg he came! Daddy Cardinal beamed with pride, and Mama Cardinal had tears in her eyes. Before they knew it, the other two eggs began to wiggle as well. The second baby bird took no time getting out of the egg, but the last one seemed to be struggling.

They could see the baby bird's head, but the harder he pushed, he still wasn't able to free himself from the egg. He looked up at Mama Cardinal and Daddy Cardinal with sad eyes, as if to say, "help me." Daddy Cardinal gave a worried look to Mama Cardinal and reached down to pull the egg shells away from the third baby bird.

Once he had finished he gave a heavy sigh and looked up at Mama Cardinal. Mama Cardinal looked down into the nest. "Oh, dear," she said. The last baby bird only had one leg!

* * *

It was a beautiful sunny day as LaKisha was looking look out the window of her room again. Her mom had just put out a bird feeder in their yard and there was all kinds of activity.

"Mom," she said, "hurry, come quick. Look at all the birds in our yard! What kinds are they?"

LaKisha's mom began pointing to the different birds and said, "Well, those small brown ones are called sparrows. Those gold-ish yellow ones are called finches. Those big black ones are Crows. Those orangish-brown ones are robins and that big blue-and-white one with the pointy head is called a blue jay. They are mean, and the other birds don't really like them very much."

LaKisha suddenly got very excited and pointed to the cardinal's nest, "Look, the eggs are hatching!"

She watched as the first and second baby birds crawled out of the eggs. "What's wrong with the last one?" she asked. "I'm not sure," said LaKisha's mom as she looked on intensely.

As the last baby bird emerged from its egg, LaKisha gave out a little yell, "Oh, it only has one leg!" LaKisha's mom put her arm around her daughter and said, "Sometimes that happens in nature, sweetie. I hope he makes the best of it."

LaKisha looked up at her mom, smiled and said, "I bet he will. I'm going to call him Onesie, and he's my favorite bird in the yard."

* * *

Onesie was sitting on the tree branch looking a little sad. A little bird, one he had never seen before in the yard - flew up and sat down beside him. "Hi!" the little bird said. Onesie, glad to have a little company, said to the new bird, "What kind of bird are you?"

"I'm a warbler. My name is Jake. So, Red, you don't mind if I call you Red, do you?" Onesie shook his head no. "Well, Red, why so sad?" asked his new found friend. Onesie gave a heavy sigh and said, "My brothers are out practicing their flying but I can't because of my disability." He held out his one leg to show the warbler.

"Wow, that's a bummer" said the warbler. "But I'll bet I could teach you to fly."

"You could? Do you think you really could?" said Onesie hopefully. "Sure" said Jake, "all you have to do is ..."

The tree branch they were on suddenly shook, and they turned to see that Daddy Cardinal had landed next to them. "What are you doing here, and why are you talking to my son?" he said as he glared at the warbler. Jake began to say something when Daddy Cardinal said, "Shoo, off with you now!" Jake bolted from the tree branch and was gone.

Onesie began to cry and asked his father, "Why did you do that Daddy?" In a firm voice Daddy Cardinal replied, "Cardinals should only be with other cardinals. You don't need to be talking to those other birds. They will only get you in trouble." Onesie put his head under his wing. He was feeling very alone.

* * *

LaKisha was sitting at the kitchen table with her mother, "Mom," she asked, "now that Mama Cardinal and Daddy Cardinal have babies will they get married?" LaKisha's mom just smiled and said, "No honey, birds don't get married like humans do. But most of them do stay together for their whole lives so it's kind of like marriage. It's called monogamy."

"Mo-nahg-a-me," repeated LaKisha. LaKisha went outside to fill up the bird feeder as her mom had told her to do, then sat in the chair on her porch. She noticed the one-legged bird sitting on the tree branch. "Hi, Onesie" she said, "How are you today?"

The one-legged bird looked up at LaKisha and just shrugged. "Are you hungry?" LaKisha took a handful of the bird seed that she just put in the feeder and put some on a fl at part of the branch next to the one-legged bird. "Here, this will make you feel better."

Onesie began to eat the food hungrily. LaKisha was so excited she ran into the house, yelling, "Mommy! Mommy! I just fed Onesie some food and he ate it!"

* * *

Onesie was eating the bird seed that LaKisha had given him when the branch shook ever so slightly. He looked up and saw the warbler sitting next to him. "You're not supposed to be here. I can get in trouble."

"I waited until your father had gone away, so it should be safe. Besides, Red, I promised to teach you how to fly. "

"Do you really think you could?" asked Onesie.

"Sure," said Jake, "it's all a matter of balance." So the little golden warbler showed Onesie how to position his body on a slight angle - and if he did, then he should be able to fl y. "I don't know," said Onesie. "I'm kind of nervous."

Jake gave him a nudge and said, "Oh, don't be such a baby and just try it." Onesie was very happy just to have somebody to talk to while his brothers were all out flying, and to have a new friend that he flapped his wings and jumped off the branch, flopping around and...