A pair of legendary superheroes, a heroic story, and a surprise ending.
Art by Pete Whitehead
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Story performed by: Aaron Calafato
Audio Production: Ken Wendt
Original Art: Pete Whitehead
Music Contributor: thomas j. duke
Podcast Coordinator: Cori Birce
Creative Consultant: Anthony Vorndran
Production Assistant: Lennon Janovyak
TRANSCRIPT
S2E2-Batman&Robin.mp3 - powered by Happy Scribe
Today's episode of 7 Minute Stories is made possible by Fishbowl. Now I started using Fishbowl because I asked myself this question. Is there an app for professionals that doesn't feel gross, that doesn't feel like Facebook or LinkedIn? Is there something that provides a safe space where you can get the inside scoop on companies you actually want to work for, where you have the ability to post anonymously, where you can get referrals and where you can just authentically network with other professionals. Is that too much to ask?
Well, it's not because as I found out, that's exactly what Fishbowl provides. They also have free live audio talks and Q&As with industry experts, I know this because I do live talks about storytelling and podcasting on the app. And if you're interested in hearing those, Cori and I will be announcing my upcoming dates on this podcast in the future. Fishbowl is available for both iPhone and Android. So search your app store and download the free app today.
You're listening to 7 Minute Stories with Aaron Calafato. We love hearing from you, so we set up a number you can call or text it's 216-352-4010. Use it and share some feedback about one of Aaron's Stories or a story of your own. We might feature your text message or voicemail in an upcoming episode. Also, visit our website 7MinuteStories.com. That's the number 7 Minute Stories dot com to see the awesome new merch available this season, choose from Stickers, Koozies, T-shirts, tote bags and more. I have to say the tote bag is my favorite.
This episode, Batman and Robin.
One of my kids came up to me in the morning and they were like, hey, you got to see this robin's nest right outside our sliding glass door and right outside of our sliding glass door, there's like a little evergreen tree, immediately when you turn to the right. So it's like, right there. And I look in there and I see this huge robin's nest with these beautiful, bright blue eggs. And at that moment, I was like, transfixed. And I just got really interested. And I was like, oh, that's really cool.
And as the days went on, I started getting involved on a daily basis, just checking on these eggs. Pretty much every day it became a routine for me to become involved with this robin and the well-being of these eggs that were about to hatch. I became obsessed. And really, at this point, the kids stopped caring as much. And I'm telling everybody, hey, did you see the eggs? Is everything okay today? How's the robin doing? I started looking at the backyard differently than I did before. I started looking at it for threats.
Were there any large birds, any kind of animals that shouldn't be there, large bugs. What's the weather like? Could it affect the nest? Where's the robin? What's she doing? So I'm there. I'm like a partner in this. It almost felt like it was like my own kids, but just animals in the form of a bird and birds outside of my house. And to watch the mom robin operate from a day to day was incredible. The amount of energy of motherhood that just radiated from her flying around, always alert, on guard, getting sticks and collecting food and berries and doing whatever the hell she did nonstop.
I was really in awe of this. And so this went on for days until one morning I went out and I noticed that the eggs had hatched and there were no more shells anymore. It was just these three little robin heads with their mouths open and I could see their breathing, they were like pulsating together. It was like this little feathery pulsating form of life in this nest. And I would peek in there really quick, quietly, didn't disturb them when the robin was gone and I would see her
just keep bringing worms back and you could hear the sounds. And this went on for days. And I'm thinking, you know, pretty soon these little baby robins now are going to have to leave the nest. And I can't wait to see when that happens. And that's when things took a turn. I remember one morning I'm working. I'm editing a podcast in the morning and I hear this crazy sound, and it was... This is such a ridiculous word. It was this murder of crows. I'm hearing... I have never in my life heard this many crows in my life.
It was so loud, squawking, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw. It sounded like they were committing murder. And I'm going, oh, no, the robin and the baby birds. So I go in through the sliding glass door in the back, and I see that I'm in the middle of a war. There are crows dive bombing this little evergreen tree, trying to take out the nest. And I don't know if they were trying to eat the birds or attack the birds. I don't know what was happening. All I know is that the mom robin is out there fighting a war that she's outnumbered.
She's attacking crows and crows are attacking her, and they're trying to set little booby traps and get her out of the way so that the other one can fly down. And I just couldn't stand there and witness this anymore. I couldn't just be a bystander. This isn't just National Geographic anymore that I'm watching with front row seats. I decide to open this glass door and I decide to become part of nature. I'm going to defend this nest and these babies. And this mom robin. And we essentially became, the robin and I, a superhero team, Batman and Robin, and I'm collecting all kinds of sticks and little stones and putting them in my pocket like a little utility belt.
And then I start hurling these stones at the crows. Now I'm not trying to kill the crows, but I'm trying to scare them and distract them and if you could just picture this from the outside, like the neighbors watching, you see me on one hand throwing stones at these crows trying to hit them. And the robin is doing all these type of dive bombs and flying and spinning in the air. We were a sight to see. It was incredible to watch and to be part of to be honest with you.
And so we eventually push all the crows out. And there's one crow left, and it's kind of hanging on this branch. And the mom robin goes up there and like, pecks the top of his head and I take a tiny little stone and I hit him right in the foot and the crow flies off and we were victorious. Everything was safe. And before I went inside, I quickly looked inside the little evergreen tree and I saw that the baby robins were okay. That took a lot out of me.
And I remember that night thinking, oh, man, I hope nothing happens in between or when I'm sleeping. And so that morning was like Christmas morning. I ran out just to make sure everything was okay. And it was a very quiet morning, very still. And I go and I look into the nest and the baby robins are great. They look really big, by the way. It's like they grew overnight. And because the mother robin isn't there, I decided to stick my head in even further to get a closer look.
And at that very moment, the three baby robins take flight and hit me directly in the face. I stagger backwards. I'm trying to balance them mid flight in my hands. They're on my head and my shoulder, and I realized I had stuck my dumb head in there at the moment of their first flight, and now their lives are in the balance. I can't let them fall. So I'm half cradling them with my hands and I shoot my hands and all three birds up towards the sky.
And I'm like, fly, children, fly! And they do. None of them fall. They all survived. And now I'm almost crying and I'm watching them fly back and forth between the trees with such exuberance as they start their life. And at the very same moment, the mother robin sees all of this and thinks that I was attacking her children. And so she starts trying to dive bomb me, and she starts trying to peck my eyes out. And so I have to retreat and crawl back into the house, and I shut the sliding glass door.
And there I am inside, looking through the glass at this mother robin, who was my superhero partner and she was looking at me and I could swear the thoughts going through her head. She said, I knew I should never have trusted a human.
7 Minute Stories is created and performed by Aaron Calafato. Audio production by Ken Wendt. You can connect with Ken or inquire about his audio production services at Media216.com. Original artwork by Pete Whitehead. Find out more about Pete's work at PeteWhitehead.com. Our creative consultant is Anthony Vorndran and Lennon Janovyak is our production assistant. Special thanks to our partners at Evergreen Podcasts. And lastly, I'm Cori Birce. Make sure and tune in next week for another story.
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