"One…two…three…hyah!"

Tyler tossed a baseball up in the air and swung at it with his bat. His coordination was off, however, and the ball fell to the ground as his bat swung right over it.

"Man," Tyler sighed, bending over to pick up the ball. "This would be a lot easier if someone else was around to throw it!"

He tried the move again, but failed just as he had before. Furrowing his brow, Tyler scooped the ball back up and glared at it.

"Come on, work!"

He made a third attempt, but ended up with the same result. Reaching his breaking point, Tyler picked up the ball and growled, winding back his arm and chucking it at a nearby tree. It hit the trunk dead center, finally earning a grin from the boy.

"Alright, I finally hit something!" He chuckled. "Wish I had done it with my bat, though."

As Tyler moved forward to retrieve the ball, a series of quiet chirps caused him to stop in his tracks.

"What was that?" Tyler wondered aloud, looking up towards the trees.

The chirping continued, and Tyler realized it was coming from the direction he had thrown the ball in. He resumed walking forward, still looking up at the tree.

"It's gotta be a bird," he shuddered at the guilt.

When he looked up in the tree, however, he didn't see anything. But the closer he got to it, the louder the chirping became.

That's weird, Tyler thought. He finally found himself in front of his baseball, and a little smile etched itself onto his face. He bent down to pick up the ball, but it was once he was at that level that he realized the chirping hadn't been coming from up in the trees at all.

Sitting in the grass just inches away from his baseball was a tiny pigeon, no bigger than the boy's hand. It was chirping relentlessly, as Tyler had already heard, but it was also trembling and looked positively frightened.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Tyler asked the little bird. "Are you okay?"

The tiny bird looked up at Tyler and widened its eyes, taking several frantic hops backwards.

"Don't be scared!" Tyler pleaded. "I'm not gonna hurt you, promise!"

The pigeon stopped moving backwards, but continued its distressed chirping. Tyler hummed curiously and leaned back on his knees, not taking his eyes off of the bird as he thought deeply to himself. When he finally got a good idea, the boy smiled and jumped to his feet, sending pigeon into yet another panic.

"Don't worry, I got this!" Tyler assured the little bird. "Just stay right here! I'll be back super-fast!"

He turned on a heel and sprinted off, leaving both the pigeon and his baseball behind. The distance from the house wasn't too far, so within a matter of moments, Tyler found himself at the back door. He slid it open slowly, poking just his head in to check out the kitchen first. His mother was standing at the farthest counter, her back facing him as she kept busy with something. Pushing the door open just a little further, Tyler squeezed his little body in between and closed it behind him, doing so as gently and quietly as possible so as to not attract his mother's attention.

Once inside, he tiptoed over to a nearby cabinet; the one where he knew his parents kept a wide selection of grains. Grabbing the handle, he slowly pulled it open, biting his lower lip and ducking behind the now open door as it made a soft squeaking sound.

Although the noise hadn't been too loud, it had been enough to catch Hilary's attention. Looking over her shoulder, Hilary raised an eyebrow once she saw the cabinet door open. Peering just below it, she could see a pair of bright red sneakers…the same ones that belonged to her son. Smirking to herself, Hilary shook her head and turned her head back around. At the same time, Tyler peeked over the top of the cabinet and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his mother still had her back to him. With that settled, Tyler ducked behind the cabinet door once again and began to scan the shelves with his brown eyes. There was so much food for all different kinds, but luckily, Tyler always paid close attention to which food his parents stocked on the most. He knew exactly what a pigeon would like! His eyes finally stopping on the top shelf, Tyler beamed as a bag of seed came into his sight. The boy grabbed the bag and quietly closed the cabinet door, slowly padding his way back to the sliding door.

"Tyler, what are you doing?"

A violent shiver went up Tyler's spine. He looked nervously over his shoulder, and was shocked to find that his mother wasn't even looking at him! Swallowing thickly, Tyler turned his head back around and kept moving for the door.

"I asked you a question, young man."

Tyler looked over his shoulder again, and this time, his mother was facing him. Squeaking, Tyler whipped around and did his best to hide the bag of seed behind his back.

"Uh…nothing."

"What do you have behind your back?"

"Nothing."

"Tyler."

"I said nothing!"

"I know you're lying! What do you have?"

"It's not a big deal," Tyler muttered.

"That isn't what I asked," Hilary scolded. "What are you hiding behind your back?"

"It's just some bird feed."

"Why?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes, I have to make sure you're not overfeeding somebody."

"It's for a human!"

At this, Hilary raised an eyebrow. "Is it for the birds?"

"No."

"Are you feeding the birds again."

"Uh…yes?"

Hilary sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Am I supposed to worry Tyler?''

"No!" Tyler refuted. "It's just a little pigeon!"

"A pigeon?" Hilary repeated. "A wild pigeon is letting you go near it?"

"Yeah," Tyler replied. "Well, kind of. It's scared, I think. It keeps chirping. And when I first tried to get close to it, it backed up and got really freaked out. But it didn't run or fly away or anything. I thought that maybe if I fed it, it would trust me more!"

"That's very unusual for a wild pigeon," Hilary murmured to herself, looking down as she held her chin. She soon heard the shuffling of footsteps, and as soon as she looked up, she saw her son slipping past the back door. "Tyler!"

The young boy broke out into a sprint, clutching the bag of seed close to his chest. He felt bad for just walking out on his mother while she was speaking to him, but Tyler wanted to get back to the bird right away. He was afraid of the little bird flying off before he could even feed it! Luckily, as soon as he made his way back over there, he saw that the pigeon had not moved at all. It was still in the same spot, and still chirping away.

"Hey!" Tyler greeted, hurrying over to the little bird. "I brought something for you! I think you'll like it…"

Tyler knelt down and opened the bag of seed, reaching in and pulling out a few pieces. He held his open palm out towards pigeon, but the little bird showed no interest in approaching Tyler to get the food.

"It's good stuff!" Tyler chuckled. "Come on, just try it!"

Still chirping, the pigeon rustled its wings, but began to slowly move towards Tyler. The young boy's eyes lit up, and he held his hand just a little closer to the bird. Once it was just a few inches away, the pigeon leaned over and pecked a single seed out of Tyler's palm, contemplatively trying it. After swallowing the morsel, pigeon's panicked chirping into a content, melodic whistle, and it continued to eat the seed out of Tyler's hand with more vigor.

"See? I told you it was good!" Tyler trilled.

"Tyler!"

The boy jolted, and pigeon squawked, taking a big jump backwards.

"Mom, you're gonna scare the pigeon!" Tyler whined.

"You know better than to walk away from me when I'm talking to you," Hilary scolded.

"But I told you what I was doing!" Tyler cried. "I told you I was going to feed pigeon!"

"Tyler, that's a wild pigeon," Hilary sighed. "They're not usually that friendly with strangers. If someone gets too close to a wild pigeon, it'll get frightened and fly away."

"But this one isn't." Tyler muttered. "It likes me! I brought it food and everything!"

"I know you did, and that was very sweet of you," Hilary replied. "But I think something might be wrong with this pigeon."

"Like what?"

"Well, you said it was chirping a lot and backing away from you before, right?"

"Uh huh."

"But it never flew away, did it?"

"No…"

"So I'm afraid that it might be hurt and it can't fly away," Hilary explained.

"But it trusts me now!" Tyler blurted. "I showed it I was friendly and didn't want to hurt it!"

"Which is a good thing," Hilary assured the boy. "But if it really is hurt, then we have to help it."

"You're right," Tyler breathed, looking ahead at the pigeon. "Is my mom right? Are you hurt?"

The bird cooed and ruffled his wings away. Hilary hummed to herself and leaned in closer to the little bird, causing him to panic once again.

"It's okay!" Hilary gasped, holding her hands out in front of herself. "Just relax, little one. I want to help you."

She held her hand out towards the little bird, who resumed its frantic, incessant chirping.

"You can trust her," Tyler called softly. "That's my mom! She's a doctor! She's really nice. And she's just worried about you, that's all!"

The bird looked between Tyler and Hilary, both of whom were smiling at the little bird. Ceasing its chirps, the pigeon slowly hopped over to Hilary and into the woman's hand. Hilary raised the bird up, examining it with her shimmering mahogany eyes.

"What's wrong with it?" Tyler asked.

"I'm pretty sure its wing is hurt," Hilary replied.

"Can we fix it?" Tyler murmured.

Hilary smirked and looked at her son. "Of course we can! I don't think it's anything too serious. But it won't get any better if Pigeon doesn't have someone to help it."

"That's why we're gonna help it!" Tyler cheered.

Hilary giggled, her heart swelling with pride over just how much her son adored and cared for wildlife.

"Yes, that's exactly why, little man."

XXX

Hilary knew from the start, however, that she and Tyler wouldn't be able to heal Pigeon alone. She knew quite a bit about birds, but she wasn't a certified vet or nurse. She didn't want to hurt Pigeon or cause it any additional pain. When she explained this to Tyler, the boy didn't seem overly excited about the idea of someone else having to help Pigeon.

"It only trusts us," Tyler sternly reminded his mother, pushing a small cup of water towards pigeon. The little bird, who was now resting atop a small towel, chirped cheerfully and began drinking, much to Tyler's delight.

"For now," Hilary replied, watching over her son and the avain from the doorway. "But even that took some work, right?"

"I guess," Tyler grumbled.

"We want to give pigeon the best care possible," Hilary continued. "Which is why I called the best vet that I know!"

The doorbell rang, and Hilary beamed at Tyler. "Perfect timing!"

The boy didn't want to leave the pigeon, but he was curious enough to peer over his shoulder and lean back just enough so he could see the front door. As his mother opened up, a familiar figure was revealed to Tyler, causing the boy to smile and rush towards the door.

"Stephan!"

The man smiled and knelt down to ruffle Tyler's hair. "Hey there, little guy! I heard you rescued an injured bird today!"

"Yep!" Tyler replied. "A Pigeon! It's really cool! Except it can't fly because its wing is hurt. That's what Mom thinks, at least."

"I'm no animal doctor," Hilary said, "but I can tell that something isn't right with Pigeon, and I'm pretty sure it's its wing. It was scared of Tyler at first, and then of me, but it never once tried to fly away."

"It just chirped a whole lot," Tyler added. "And hopped backwards. And sometimes it'd ruffle its wings up, but it never actually flied away!"

"Flew away," Hilary gently corrected.

"Same thing," Tyler squeaked.

Stephan chuckled and stood back up. "Not a problem. I'd be happy to look at this pigeon and see what we can do!"

As he walked into the living room, Tyler panicked and ran ahead of the doctor, standing firmly in front of him.

"You have to get it to trust you, Stephan," Tyler warned before the man could even ask what was going on.

"I know that, Tyler," Stephan laughed. "Pigeon is a wildling and it's alone, which means it's not so quick to trust humans. That's entirely normal! I've treated lots of wild birds before. I know how to get pigeon to trust me."

As Stephan continued on towards the pigeon, Tyler continued to scowl. Taking quick notice of this, Hilary approached Tyler and got down to his level.

"Stephan knows exactly what he's doing," Hilary murmured. "He studied very hard for a long time to be a veterinarian. You trust Stephan, don't you?"

It took a few seconds, but sure enough, Tyler slowly nodded his head. He looked up and saw Stephan kneeling before the pigeon, whistling an intricate melody. The bird tilted his head to one side, and then the other, before putting it back upright and whistling along with Stephan.

"Look at that," Hilary marveled. "Isn't it amazing?"

"Uh huh," Tyler breathed. "How'd he know how to do that, Mom?"

"I told you, he's the best vet I know," Hilary replied with a smile.

"Hey there, little guy. How are you feeling?"

Tyler's eyes widened when he saw that the pigeon was now perched in Stephan's hand. The man gently lifted up each of its wings, one at a time. Nothing happened when he touched the right wing, but when he touched the left, the pigeon chirped in distress and ruffled his wing.

"Pigeon!" Tyler cried.

"Looks like your mom was right, buddy."

Tyler furrowed his brow as Stephan looked over his shoulder at him. "Its wing is hurt?"

"Yep," Stephan confirmed.

"Is it bad?" Tyler murmured.

"You'll be glad to know it's nothing serious!" Stephan replied. "I just need to bandage it up and make sure this pigeon gets lots of rest. After that, it'll be able to fly no problem!"

"Then it can find all of its friends!" Tyler cheered.

"Yes, that's very important," Stephan agreed.

"But for now, we can be its friends!" Tyler declared, grinning up at his mother. "Right, Mom? We'll take care of the pigeon until he feels better, won't we?"

Hilary looked over at Stephan, who was throwing her a smirk. They were both thinking the same thing, and they knew it: Tyler sounded exactly like Tyson.

"Of course we will, my little superhero," Hilary giggled softly. "How could I ever say no to helping out a friend?"