THE LIFE OF A CHICK

THE LIFE OF A CHICK

The alarm went off and Cindy rushed out of the bed and got dressed. Cindy was in third grade in elementary school. She was so excited about the possibility of her first chick being hatched. Her mom and dad said it could happen any day now. She was certain this was the day. She could feel it. She raced as fast as she could in her bright yellow boots heading to the barn. She ran past the cow who was mooing and rubbed her hand down the side of Sinbad. Sinbad was the large white horse she helped to raise from the time he was born. Today, she wasn’t spending all her time with Sinbad. It was time to meet her new little chick.

With fingers crossed, she walked over to the nest and looked in. Nothing had happened. Cindy was disappointed. She was certain this was the day, especially since she had been talking about the little chick hatching for a week now at school. “Oh no, come on”, Cindy yelled. “What’s wrong”, a voice from the other side of the barn asked. It was her mom. She came out to milk the cow and noticed that Cindy was not in her bedroom. “Honey, I know you wanted this chick to hatch today but you have to give them time. It will happen when it is supposed to happen”, her mom said. “I know mom, but I just wanted to give the chick a couple days before I took him or her to school for Show and Tell”, Cindy replied. Come and help me and maybe while we are working, your little chick will hatch.

They both walked across the barn and noticed all the animals. Cindy and her mom began talking about all the different animals and asked Cindy to name each one. Cindy started laughing. “Mom, I know all the animals on the farm”. “Come on”, her mom said. “Now you have to spell them”. Cindy was excited. She had been learning to spell big words at school and loved it when her mom would ask her to spell things. She spelled every animal on the barn and even some that weren’t. “I am so proud of you”, her mom said. “You have been doing an excellent job at school and I”. She stopped talking. “What mom”, Cindy asked. “Listen, don’t you hear it”, she asked. Cindy had no idea what she was talking about until she pointed in the direction of the nest. Cindy rushed over to the nest and there it was. The little chick was hatching. Cindy began to jump up and down. She was so excited. She could see the little feet kicking out of the eggshell. It was so tiny. As she turned to hug her mom, she heard another sound. The other three chicks in the nest were hatching. Cindy could not believe it. By this time, her little brother and father had arrived in the barn. Her brother Tommy ran over as fast as he could to see what Cindy was so excited about. “Isn’t that the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen”, she asked Tommy? “Yeah, it is pretty cool”, he said, laughing.

“Okay kids, we know you are both excited, but we all have chores we have to complete before you are off to school, so, let’s get to it”, their father said. “Can we stand here for a little while longer, please”, Cindy asked? “Cindy, you heard your father, let’s get to work”, her mom said. Cindy and Tommy walked slowly away from the chicks. They were in charge of feeding the animals and sweeping up the hay. They both worked extremely fast to do the chores. As their father was walking towards the chicks, he heard some strange noises. He looked over in the nest and called his wife over. They both watched as a couple of the chicks seemed to have difficulty moving. It was hard to watch so Mrs. Weaver decided to take the kids into the house. The kids wanted to know what was going on, but she felt whatever was going to happen, this was not a good thing for them to see. “Mom, I want to see the chicks before I go to school”, Tommy said. “I know but maybe later”, she said.

Cindy and Tommy went to school. Cindy talked all day about the little chicks and all the kids were excited about seeing them on Friday. She told them how she got a chance to see them kick their little feet out of the shells. Some of the kids had never seen a chick or any other farm animals before, so it was going to be a great Show and Tell. The school day had ended, and dad picked them up from school. “Where’s mom”, they both asked? “She’s at the house, but I wanted to talk to you before we got back to the farm”. Dad began to explain to Cindy and Tommy that a couple of the chicks didn’t make it. “What do you mean, they didn’t make it”, Tommy asked? “Do you mean they died”, Cindy asked? “Yes, I am afraid so. It just seemed as though they were too little or something, but this morning they seemed to be having problems and your mom wanted to stay back to see if they would make it. When I left the farm, the chicks were still a little weak and weren’t moving”. The kids began to cry. They got to the farm and Tommy wanted to go to the barn, but Cindy was so sad she just wanted to go to her room. As they were getting out the car, Mrs. Weaver stood there with a nest in her hand. She had this huge smile on her face. “What is it mom”, Cindy asked wiping her tears. “They made it, all the chicks made”, she said. “After I fed them, everything was fine”. Cindy jumped out of the jeep to see all four chicks moving around in the nest. You get to choose which one you want to take to Show and Tell on Friday. “Thanks mom”, she said hugging her.

Friday came and Cindy was happy to be able to take her little chick to Show and Tell. Her mom went with her so she could take the chick back to the farm after Show and Tell. All the kids wanted to touch it and hold it. Cindy was the talk of the elementary school. She couldn’t wait to get back home to tell her dad and Tommy about Show and Tell. She also wanted to spend some time with the chick she and her class named, Sunshine. All was well on the farm.