The Desert Display

          Summer the cardinal felt like her wings were going to fall off.  She and her family were flying to Texas to visit some old friends.  They had left Melody Meadow three days ago and still had one more day of flying to get there.  All she could see for miles and miles was nothing but dirt, grass, and a few sad looking trees.  She already missed the greenness of Melody Meadow and wondered why anyone would live in such a drab place.

            For the rest of that day, the scenery changed little.  Summer thought she might go insane with boredom.  Ever since they crossed the Mississippi River, the land had become flatter than she thought possible.  That night she and her family rested in one of the few trees to be found.  Summer did not like this trip already.

            The next morning came much sooner than Summer wanted.  Her dreams had taken her back to Melody Meadow, and she was greatly dismayed to wake up in the flat nothingness of Texas.

            “Come on, Honey,” her dad said.  “We’re almost there.  Soon you will be playing with Anne Marie.”

            Summer had not seen her friend, Anne Marie the scissortail flycatcher, in over a year.  When Anne Marie’s family had come to Melody Meadow last year to visit, the two of them had a wonderful time playing together.  Maybe seeing Anne Marie would make everything better.

            As the day progressed, huge storm clouds began to develop in the western sky.  It was hard to tell just how far away they were because of the flatness of the land.  Summer and her family were about an hour from Anne Marie’s family’s home.  Her dad looked with concern at the building storm and urged his family to fly a little faster.

            “Come on, guys,” he said to the family.  “We don’t want to get caught in that storm.  It’s not much further.  Let’s see how fast we can get there.”

            Everyone groaned, but everyone put on as much speed as possible.  Summer looked at the building storm and began to get nervous.  That actually made it a little easier for her to crank up the speed.  She had never seen such huge storm clouds before.  The wind began to pick up, and Summer had to let her mom break the wind for her.  Thunder rolled out over the open plains.  That scared Summer and made her even more nervous.  Now even she urged her family to fly faster.

            Finally her dad spotted the tree where the scissortail flycatchers lived.  “Come on, guys,” he called.  “There it is!”

            With one final burst of speed Summer and her family made it to the tree where their friends were waiting for them.  As soon as they were inside, the rain began to fall in torrents.  Summer breathed a sigh of relief, as everyone sat down to a supper of insects their friends had prepared for them.

            Anne Marie’s family lived in one of the last trees before the landscape turned to mostly desert.  Their nest was built into a hollow in the tree, which protected them from the heat of the day and from the strong storms that occurred in that part of the country.  Summer was so glad their nest wasn’t just in a branch.  She had never seen such a storm before.  After supper she settled down next to her friend, Anne Marie, and fell fast asleep.

            The next morning Summer woke up in a strange place.  For a moment she forgot where she was.  Then she realized she was in Texas with her friend, Anne Marie.  She liked Anne Marie, but she didn’t like Texas and wanted more than anything to be home.

            Suddenly Anne Marie called to her, “Hey, Summer, come look at this.”

            Summer stood in the doorway of Anne Marie’s nest and looked out at the landscape.  Overnight, the world had bloomed with color.  Everywhere she looked something had bloomed.  Even the cacti had flowers on them.

            Summer looked at Anne Marie bewildered and then asked, “What happened?”

            “This is what happens when it rains in the desert.  It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it is beautiful,” said Anne Marie.

            Summer stood next to her friend and stared in awe at the change in the landscape.  Yesterday everything had been some shade of brown or yellow.  Now she could see every color of the rainbow.  Maybe Texas wasn’t that bad after all.