“Routine helps you live a successful life,” this is something that Cindy always likes to say. She believes that it is true. That is why she has a well established routine. Cindy lives a perfectly normal life in Maine. She loves animals very much. That is why she is the owner of a veterinary clinic. She has five employees at her clinic. She lives alone with a pet dog named Arnold. Cindy would never be able to survive without an animal at home. Each day she gets up at seven o’clock to get ready for work. Then she leaves at seven forty five for work. It is a short ten minute drive to work. Then, at six thirty she leaves work and goes home. This is her routine for all seven days of the week. Cindy likes having a routine.
One day that routine was changed. On her way to work one morning she saw a yellow bird lying on the side of the road. Cindy could tell that the bird was hurt. She stopped the car and put on her veterinary gloves. She picked up the bird and placed him inside a small cardboard box. He chirped the whole time she was holding him. Then when Cindy arrived at work, she discovered that the bird’s wing was badly injured. She put his wing in bandages and figured that it would take about four weeks for it to heal completely. At that point the bird would be able to fly. She placed the bird in a small cage and gave him some water and birdseed. After she was done with work, Cindy brought the bird home. She decided that she must name the bird. After much consideration, Cindy decided to name the bird Lemon because of his yellow color. Cindy got out her bird book. After fortyfive minutes, Cindy figured out that Lemon was a Hawaii Amakihi. She also found out that they live only in Hawaii. Lemon could not have flown from Hawaii on his own. He must have been brought over to Maine, wondered Cindy. She decided that she would keep Lemon for four weeks until his wing healed, then she would decide what to do with him from there.
Cindy’s new routine was formed. She would follow her old routine except now she would bring Lemon to work with her. Lemon could not be left home alone with Arnold. Arnold had already attempted to open Lemon’s cage. Lemon did not like it in his cage; he pecked at the latch constantly. He always chirped unhappily. As time went by, Cindy’s employees started to ask her what she was going to do with Lemon. Each time she would say, “I don’t know.” They would respond with something like, “Well, you can’t keep him cooped up in that cage for the rest of his life. He can’t stand it in there.”
Finally, four weeks went by. At the the veterinary clinic that day, Cindy removed Lemon’s bandages and placed him in the cage. He slowly flapped his wings. Then Lemon started to fly from one side of the cage to the other. Everyone cheered. Cindy knew that she must decide what to do with Lemon. She had gotten attached to him. But, she understood that he couldn’t spend the rest of his life in a cage.
She couldn’t just let Lemon go in Maine, he wouldn’t survive anywhere other than Hawaii. It was then that she realized what she must do. She would have to take Lemon to Hawaii. Cindy didn’t want to go to Hawaii because that would cause her to miss about four days of work. The veterinary clinic would not be able to operate without Cindy. Therefore, it would have to close for four days. There were already appointments made every day for the next three months. Lemon wouldn’t be able to wait three months to be set free. If Cindy cancelled the appointments, then she would probably lose those customers for good. She would also have to pay for plane tickets. She would have to use all of her money saved for expanding the veterinary clinic on plane tickets.
After a lot of thinking, Cindy decided that she would feel better if she took Lemon home. Cindy planned the trip for the next week. She decided that she would spend the money on expensive plane tickets. She cancelled four days worth of appointments. Her customers were not happy; a few even said that they would never schedule an appointment with her clinic again. Cindy found someone to watch Arnold while she is gone.
The time came when Cindy had to leave. She left for the airport in the morning. It takes two hours to get there. When they arrived Cindy went to buy tickets. The woman behind the counter asked Cindy how many tickets she would like to buy. “I would like to buy one ticket for myself and an animal ticket for my bird,” Cindy replies.
“Sorry, we have no more room for animals on the plane. You will either have to wait for the next flight or leave the bird behind,” the woman explained.
“When is the next flight?”
“Eighteen hours from now. I can sell you tickets for that flight right now.”
“Are you sure there isn’t enough room for a small bird?”
“We are not allowed any more than ten pets on the plane.”
“Let me think about it. I’ll come back to buy tickets later,” Cindy replied. Cindy sat down on the nearest bench. Why am I doing this all for a bird? If I go on the next flight, I’ll have to cancel another day of appointments at the clinic, Cindy thought. After much thought, Cindy decided to go on the flight in eighteen hours. She went back to the woman and bought the tickets.
Cindy decided to go back home. She didn’t have anything to do at the airport for eighteen hours. Cindy drove the two hours drive back home. She couldn’t go to the veterinary clinic because all the appointments were already canceled. So she stayed at home for about thirteen and a half hours. While she was at home, she cancelled another day’s worth of appointments. This was because her flight got postponed. Then she drove two hours back to the airport. By now it is dark out when Cindy and Lemon reach the airport.
Cindy and Lemon entered the airport, just as they did earlier. At the baggage center, Cindy hands the cage with Lemon in it to the person who puts the pets on the plane. Lemon started to chirp loudly; he had never been away from Cindy for the past four weeks. Lemon was taken away to be put on the plane. Cindy finally boarded the plane. She slept most of the way to Hawaii.
When they arrived, it was only ten o’clock in the morning. Cindy realized that she didn’t know where to release Lemon. She couldn’t release him in the city. Cindy rented a hotel room at a nearby hotel that allows pets. She left Lemon and her luggage in the hotel room. She went back downstairs and used the computer that is available for guests. She did some research and found that a Hawaiian bird specialist lived only ten minutes away. Cindy called the specialist and asked if she could come over for advice. The specialist said that Cindy is welcomed at his house. Cindy rented a car and drove herself and Lemon to the specialist’s house. She showed the specialist Lemon. He agreed that Lemon was a Hawaii Amakihi. Cindy told him the story of how she found Lemon and helped him. The specialist told Cindy that most Hawaii Amakihis live in a forest ten hours away. He gave her directions to get there. Cindy thanked the specialist for helping her. The specialist asked Cindy where she lives. Cindy told the specialist the town in Maine that she lives in. The specialist thanked Cindy for helping save a bird that is becoming endangered. Cindy returns to the hotel with Lemon.
The next day, Cindy and Lemon left to go to the forest. She followed the direction  that the bird specialist had given her. It took them ten hours to get there. During those ten hours Cindy thought about how Lemon had positively affected her life. They arrived at a small parking lot next to a large forest. There was a trail leading into the forest. Cindy took Lemon’s cage and started walking on the trail. As she walked, Lemon started making an unusual sound. Another bird made an almost identical sound back. Cindy realized that the other bird must be a Hawaii Amakihi, too. She is reassured by this. After she walked for another minute, she found a good spot to let Lemon go. Cindy didn’t want to let Lemon go. She understood that she had to let him go. “Lemon, you have been a good friend. I am sad to let you go. I will miss you very much. I know that you will be happy here. Goodbye Lemon,” said Cindy crying. She slowly opened the door of the cage to let Lemon go. Lemon flew from the cage and landed on Cindy’s arm. He stayed there for about a minute and made happy chirping noises. Then, he gave one last loud chirp and flew away. Cindy stayed there for a while, and watched as Lemon flew away. She stayed there even after Lemon flew out of sight. Cindy walked back to the car. She stayed at a hotel near the forest. Then she spent the whole next day driving back to city where the airport was. She stayed there one last day, but this time without Lemon. In the morning Cindy boarded an airplane back to Maine. She didn’t have any trouble this time. The whole way back Cindy thought about how she had done the right thing by letting Lemon go.
When Cindy came back things were almost back to normal. They were missing a few customers at the veterinary clinic and the idea of expanding the clinic was postponed another year because Cindy spent all her extra money on the Hawaii trip. About a month after Cindy had returned from Hawaii, an article was written about how Cindy had saved Lemon and had helped an endangered bird. Cindy didn’t recognized the name of the person who wrote it. She couldn’t figure out who the person was. Finally, about two days later, Cindy realized it was the bird specialist from Hawaii. That was why he wanted to know where she lived. Just a week after the article was published, the veterinary clinic’s number of customers doubled because of the article. Cindy’s clinic was soon one of the main veterinary clinics in Maine. Cindy remained proud for what she had done for Lemon.