The cartoon ended, and David shut the TV off. "I'm going to go outside and play, OK, Grandpa?"

Martin looked up from reading the sports page. "OK. Just don't go out of the yard."

"I won't." David loved playing at his grandfather's, especially because he lived in a house with a yard. His apartment didn't have that. David wasn't into sports much, but he sometimes just liked to lie in the grass and look at the sky. His dad said there were bugs in the grass, but David didn't care. As he looked up, he realized he could see almost all the way up the tallest tree in the yard. It was really tall. David wasn't quite sure, but he thought he saw a bird's nest up there.

David had learned about birds in school recently. He wanted to get a closer look, so that maybe he could tell his class about it. David got up and walked over to the tree. The only way he could ever get close to the nest was to start climbing. He reached up, and grabbed a branch. He found places for each foot. So far, so good. He didn't really have all of his father's fears, such as heights, insects and so on. He made his way up without a problem.

But, suddenly, just as he was nearly to the place where the nest was, he heard a twig snap. The sound made him look down, and only then did he realize how far up he'd climbed. The ground was a long way down from here. He swallowed hard. He didn't know what to do, but there seemed to be only one option. "Help!"

Daphne was relieved to have gotten her errands done. She missed David, but she got grocery shopping done much quicker without him there. Besides, she knew both he and Martin loved to spend time together. She made the familiar turn into Martin's driveway, and parked the car. Just as she got out and prepared to go inside, something made Daphne look up. In the branches of the tallest tree in the yard, she thought she saw what looked like David's sneaker. "Bloody hell," she whispered. "David Martin Crane, is that you up there?"

David could tell his mom was mad. But if he wanted to get down from here, he'd have to tell the truth. "Yes. I just wanted to see the bird's nest up here, but then I looked down."

"Where is your grandfather? Does he know you're up there?"

"I don't think so. I was yelling right before you got here," David replied.

"I'm going to kill that man," Daphne muttered as she walked toward the house. The front door was unlocked, so she didn't bother knocking. "Martin, don't you know you're supposed to be looking after your grandson?"

Martin looked up at her. "Oh, hey, Daph. David wanted to go play outside. I told him it was fine, as long as he stayed in the yard." He shrugged.

"Oh, he's stayed in the yard all right," Daphne replied. "He's up in that tree of yours! What are we going to do now?!"

"Come on, Daphne. So he climbed a tree. He can't be that high up, can he?"

Without a word, Daphne pointed out the window. "See for yourself, old man!"

Martin got up, took hold of his cane, and slowly walked over to where Daphne was pointing. It took a moment to see where David was, because Martin had never expected the boy would climb very high. "Don't panic. I'll call the fire department." Martin immediately went to the phone. He dialed the number in seconds, and gave them his address before hanging up. He turned back to Daphne, noting that the panic on her face hadn't gone down a bit. "They're on their way. They'll get him down. They have a ladder."

"How could this have happened?" Daphne wondered as she pulled out her cellphone. Niles was still at work, taking care of some patient files, but she knew he would come as soon as she told him what was going on. "Niles, you should come to your father's right now. No, he's fine. It's David. He's climbed very high up in a tree, and the fire department is on their way over."

"Oh! Well, I'll be right there," Niles said immediately. This was way more important than the notes he was putting into a patient's chart.

"Niles is on his way," Daphne informed her father-in-law as she put her phone away.

Just then, Ronee came into the living room. "Oh, hi, Daphne. I didn't know you were here. I guess I must not have heard the doorbell."

"She never rang," Martin explained. "David went out to play, and now he's stuck in the tree. I just called the fire department."

"Oh. Wow," Ronee said. "This is certainly something that never happened when I babysat for your kids, Marty."

"I know," Martin remembered. "The worst you ever had to deal with was a heated argument over which opera was better." He rolled his eyes.

"You two can stand here and chitchat if you want, but I'm going outside," Daphne said, leaving the room.

Seeing David still up there, panic hit Daphne yet again. But relief followed a second later, as she saw her husband's car coming up the road. Then she heard a siren, which was the most beautiful sound she could imagine at the moment.