The Missing Fish Sign

A little wooden fish sign hung beside the garden pond. One morning, Pip found only its string on the post. The sign was missing, but the string had not been cut. Sam inspected the knot and found that it had slipped.

Meg spotted a thin line in the soft dirt. The line led past a brick path and into a thick patch of mint. Inside the mint was a silver paint chip. The fish sign had silver fins, so the team kept looking nearby.

Pip heard a quick clink from the recycling bin. The bin held tins, but it did not hold the sign. A string from the bin ran through the mint and up into a tree. A bird had picked up the loose string for its nest.

The fish sign was too big, so it slipped and landed behind the bin. The clink came when the string tapped a tin in the wind. The team fixed the sign with a stronger knot. They left a short bit of safe nesting string for the bird.