Calla sat up and rubbed her eyes. Could a chicken really be talking to her? “I said, What kind of chicken might you be?” “My name is Henrietta and this is Rhoda.” “Howdy do,” said Rhoda giggling. “I am a Buff Orpington, and she is a Rhode Island Red.” “Now we have some unique chickens around here, but you are the funniest looking chicken I have ever seen,” Henrietta said looking puzzled. Meanwhile Rusty was keeping himself busy munching on some chicken poo.
Calla finally spoke up. “Why I am not a chicken at all, I am a little girl, and chickens aren’t supposed to talk!” “Oh but we do talk,” piped Rhoda. “We do a lot of things.” “Most people think we are, how shall I put it…..Bird Brains.” “I need to get home,” said Calla. “My parents must be worried sick about us, but I am not sure how I got here, or how to get back home?”
“Have you met Queen Birdie yet,” asked Henrietta from her box. “No, no I haven’t,” exclaimed Calla. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing and seeing. “Well, follow us then,” sung Rhoda. Calla left Rusty to himself and his gross snack, and followed Henrietta and Rhoda through a small door to the outside.
When she crawled out into the bright sunlight, she was amazed at what she saw. There were chickens everywhere, and they all stopped their scratching and pecking to look at her. A group of chickens came to greet her and introduce themselves.
A small white chicken came over first. “Hi, my name is Eloise, and you are an awfully big chicken?” “Eloise, that isn’t nice, mind your manners,” a pretty brown chicken with yellow legs scolded. “Please excuse her, my name is Camilla and this is Buttercup.” “The shy one over there is Fiona, and her older sister Beatrix.” “The twins over by the tree are Gertrude and Penelope.”
“Nice to meet you all,” said Calla. “My name is Calla, and my dog Rusty and I must have fallen asleep in our old coop during the storm.” But this is not our old coop and I need to get home, but I don’t know how,” Calla said worried. “Henrietta and Rhoda told me that Queen Birdie would know.” “Do you know all know where I can find her?” “Queen Birdie is taking her dirt bath now,” screeched Eloise. “And she doesn’t like to be disturbed when she is taking her dirt bath!”
“Don’t worry,” Henrietta reassured her. “You can meet Queen Birdie as soon as she is done, but for now would you like to come and help us with our chores?” “You look like you are strong.” “I am strong,” said Calla. “I am also a very good helper.” “I might as well help while we wait for Birdie to finish her bath, and then I must talk to her about how to get home.”
Calla looked around and could see the twins Gertrude and Penelope busy picking up sticks in their mouths and placing them into a pile. While Beatrix and Fiona were trying untangle leaves from the chicken wire.
“What happened here,” asked Calla wide eyed? “There was an awful storm,” said Camilla in a hushed tone. “We don’t like to talk about it too much because it makes poor Fiona worry, and when Fiona worries all of her feathers fall out!” “Ok,” said Calla looking around at everything in more detail now. “There was a terrible storm at my house too.” “That was when I got stuck in the coop with Rusty,” Calla explained. I wonder if my house looks like this, Calla thought to herself.
There were piles of hail balls scattered about, and bits and pieces of this and that strewn all over.
She saw downed leaves and branches everywhere.
The part that looked like it got hit the hardest was their garden. She saw Buttercup and Camilla picking debris out of what used to be a patch of tomatoes and cucumbers. Their corn was stripped, and zucchini dented.
“This is terrible,” exclaimed Calla! “It is terrible,” shrieked Eloise! “We won’t have any food, and if we don’t have any food to harvest at the end of the summer, we won’t be able to eat this winter!” “We will starve,” cried Eloise! “Eloise quit being so dramatic,” said Henrietta calmly. “You are scaring our guest, and Fiona is starting to worry.” “Look, she is missing some feathers from around her neck already.” “What do you mean you won’t have enough food,” asked Calla?” Rhoda came towards her and quietly explained in a hushed voice so Fiona wouldn’t hear. “We get all of our food from our garden.” “We grow everything we need to get us through the year.” “That way we have enough food to eat until the garden is ready to be harvested next Summer.” “We are trying to salvage as much as we can after the storm.” “If we try and replant some food now, and we nurse the damaged plants back, we should be able to scrape by until the peas come up next Spring,” said Rhoda.
“But we will be lucky if any of this can be saved,” snorted Beatrix from the other side of the garden. “Just look at it, it is a mess!” “I don’t see how we can get all of this done.” “Why are you always so negative Beatrix,” said Buttercup sweetly? “We’ll get it done somehow?” “Look around Buttercup,” said Beatrix. “There is just too much to be done, and since Oliver left we won’t be able to lift all of the heavy things by ourselves.” “By the way, I am not being negative little Miss Sunshine, I am being realistic, ” Beatrix sassed.
“Oh, enough you two,” cried Calla. “I can help you lift the heavy stuff.” “I am a huge help to my dad when he works around our house fixing things up.” “He is a Landscaper.” “He can build and fix anything.” “He has taught me a lot, and I even helped to plant our garden this year.” “What do you think Henrietta?” “Well,” said Henrietta. “If you can help us move some of these heavy branches and till up some soil, we might be able to get things cleaned up before Queen Birdie is done with her bath.” “Ok, lets do it then,” Calla said eagerly and excited!
She immediately went to work moving the large branches to a pile behind the coop. She helped to repair a piece of the fence where a part of the tree had fallen on it, and was even able to replace a broken piece of glass from one of the windows that the hail had shattered. Even Rusty helped to dig up some of the potato plants and prep some dirt for replanting by scratching his paws into the soft soil.
“Queen Birdie is coming!” “Queen Birdie is coming,” squawked Eloise in a flurry!
Stay tuned for Part 3 next week to see how Calla and Rusty get home!
No comments:
Post a Comment