Anna, Mary Lou, and Dasan were walking to the park together. When they were close enough, they saw Mike, David, and Steve throwing rocks at a bird's nest in a tree.
"Hey! Stop that!" Dasan yelled.
The three boys turned and laughed. Then they each put two fingers behind their head to resemble feathers and used their other hand to make whooping noises with their mouth.
Anna felt her hands ball into fists, but before she could react, the three boys ran off. She saw Dasan kneeling on the ground, cupping something in his hands. She and Mary Lou went over to investigate.
"Its shell was broken." Dasan showed his friends the tiny, premature bird he was holding. "It's too young to survive on its own."
"Let's take it to my Daddy!" said Anna. "He's a doctor. I know he can save it!"
It was Saturday, so she knew her father would be home. When the children got there, she saw him pushing Simon in the baby swing that had once been her own. Patty was standing with him. Dasan took the baby bird to him.
"Some boys were throwing rocks at his nest," Dasan explained. "His shell got broken."
Patty took over pushing Simon while Anton took the bird from Dasan and peered closely at it.
"I am not a veterinarian, but I will see what I can do."
He took the bird into the house, where he emptied a match box, put some cotton balls inside it to make a soft bed, and tenderly placed the bird on them. Then he sat the match box inside an empty kitchen cabinet, leaving the cabinet door slightly open so air could circulate. Then he called a friend of his who was a veterinarian.
"It needs moist dog food and water," he said when the telephone call was over.
"But Marshmallow needs his food!" Anna protested.
"It will only need a very small amount," Anton told her. While he fetched the dog food, Marshmallow jumped up on the lower cabinets beneath where the bird was, barking and whining, until Patty picked him up and took him outside.
For several days, the pattern was the same. Anton would feed the bird at regular intervals, or Patty when he was at work, and every time, Marshmallow would whine and jump against the bottom cabinet, scratching his nails against the wood.
"Is he trying to get to the baby bird?" asked Anna.
"Yes," Patty told her. "He's jealous of the attention it's receiving. Perhaps you should play with him more often."
Anna tried to play with Marshmallow more when she was home, but other things sometimes competed for her attention.
It was the following Saturday when it happened. The family had gone grocery shopping and were busy bringing in the bags of groceries and putting them away.
"Did you remember to shut the gate?" Patty asked Anna as she brought the last bag inside.
"Yes," said Anna. She remembered pulling it closed - but had she latched it?
She ran back outside to see the gate was wide open. She was hurrying to close it when her mother appeared on the front porch.
"Have you seen Marshmallow?"
"Isn't he inside?" asked Anna.
"I've looked all through the house and I can't find him," Patty replied.
"Oh, no!" Frantically, Anna and her parents looked all around the front and back yards, but there was no sign of the puppy.
"I will walk down the street to look for him," said Anton. "You stay here with the children."
He was about to leave when Max appeared, holding a wriggling Marshmallow.
"Oh, you found him!" Patty hurried to take the puppy into her arms.
"He was almost to our house when I saw him," Max explained.
"Thank you so much for bringing him back to us!" said Patty.
"You're welcome," Max replied.