For nine years, Elias Penn set his pocket watch by the sparrow. At eleven o'clock sharp the little brown bird dropped onto the third spoke of the fountain, cocked its head, and stayed exactly forty seconds. But this Tuesday the square was nearly empty when it should have been full of people and pigeons. Elias stood by the fountain, watch open in his hand, and waited. Eleven o'clock came. The sparrow did not.

Elias snapped his watch shut and looked around the empty square. The bakery was dark. The flower cart was gone. Something was wrong with the whole place, not just the bird. He decided to ask the one person who knew everything: Mrs. Otto, who ran the newsstand on the corner.

Mrs. Otto wasn't at her newsstand. The shutters were down and locked. But a note was taped to the front in shaky handwriting: 'Gone to the council meeting. They can't do this. — O.' Elias frowned. What was she fighting about?

Elias found the council building and slipped inside. Mrs. Otto stood at the front, arguing with a row of officials about saving the square. She was losing. Elias stepped up beside her. 'I've watched that fountain for nine years,' he said loudly. 'And I have something to show you.'