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 was still at her newsstand, stacking papers. 'Where is everybody?' Elias asked. She lowered her voice. 'Didn't you hear? They're tearing down the fountain Thursday. The whole square's being dug up for a parking lot. Everyone's already packing up to leave.'

Elias felt his chest go tight. A parking lot, right over the only spot that little bird had ever called home. 'Where's this council meeting?' he asked. Mrs. Otto pointed across town. 'Town hall. Started ten minutes ago. But what can an old man and a newspaper lady do?'

Elias and Mrs. Otto rushed to the town hall and burst in just as a man raised his hand to vote yes on the parking lot. 'Wait!' Elias shouted, holding up a photo of the nest. 'There are baby birds on that fountain.' The room went quiet. The head councilman sighed, then nodded. 'Fine. The vote is postponed until the nest is empty.'