The Littlest One

The Littlest One



“What’s your problem, man? Don’t have it fixed yet?” The two men kicked Daniel hard, waitng for a response. Daniel just sat there, wrench in hand, trying to fix the bike in front of him. “Come on, speak up.” One of the men with red hair kicked him again.

Daniel was silent. This just made the man with the red hair and his friend even madder. The red haired man gave Daniel a punch in the arm. “Speak up, man.” Daniel just kept working. I watched him from the park bench. We had come out here on a bike ride around the park’s dirt path on a beautiful day. Daniel’s bike had quite part way across the park and ‘always prepared Daniel’ had tools in his backpack to try to fix the bike. As I watched the two men with Daniel, I wondered why he wasn’t fighting back. These men were bigger than me, yes, but I am only 5’2. Daniel was a giant compared to either of these men; surely he could take them on if he wanted to.

My mind wondered back to a conversation between Daniel and I the day before. We had been out walking along the river bank in the park when we saw something flying over the river. It was a bald eagle! It flew over us and then down to the river. As it flew, two crows had pecked at it, trying to make it leave. Instead, the eagle dove down to the river, coming up with a fsih. The crows had conituned to peck at the eagle, and even though the eagle was bigger and stronger, he hdan’t fought back.

“Why doesn’t he do anything?” I asked Daniel, pulling back my blond curls.

“Sarah, he doesn’t need to.”

“Aren’t they hurting him?”

“Maybe some, but he’s doing what he knows he needs to do and then he’ll move on. No need to start a fight with birds like that. Besides, the eagle can’t reach them. See how they always stay behind him?”

I had glanced up at the birds and I was surprised to find that they did always stay just out of the eagles reach. “Then how can he get rid of them?”

“By soaring to a higher place. The crows can’t get enough oxygen to survive in a higher place, but the eagle does. All he has to do is fly higher than them.”

We watched the eagle for a moment longer. It finished it’s meal and then flew up. The crows followed, pecking at it as it went. As the eagle soared higher and higher the crows backed off and finally went back to the trees below. Suddenly, a much smaller black bird came flying in from another tree. It began pecking at the crows. I had watched in amusment as the crows were forced away from their roost by this smaller bird.

“I said move it, man!” The red haired man’s voice brought me back to the present. He was kicking Daniel again. Daniel had stood to his feet and was wheeling his bike over to me.

“Ready to go, Sarah? I think I’m all set now.”

“He really does talk! Look at that!” The two men walked over to us and followed Daniel as he started down the path. Daniel jumped on his bike.

“Come on Sarah, let’s go.” He took off, riding slowly at first.” I paused for a moment, watching as the two men moved closer to Daniel trying to knock him off his bike. Daniel began to ride faster, looking back at me to see what I was doing.

“Don’t worry, I’ll catch up.” David nodded and took off riding fast and hard. The two men couldn’t follow. They looked back at me. I started to climb on my bike and then got back off. The two men were headed back to the spot where Daniel had been fixing his bike, waiting for the next person to come along that they could harasses. I thought back to the eagle, and the crows, and the little blackbird. I let go of my bike, allowing it to hit the ground. I had some pecking of my own to do.







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