Super Chickens Elsa R. Waite Age 10 Adventure Chapter 1 School Flapper “NO! Not this again,” I heard Trix whine. “Maybe it will be a shorter ride this time,” Kit suggested. Leave it to good old Kit to lighten the mood. “Yeah, maybe soon we will be back in the yard eating raspberries!” Bliz exclaimed, keeping things calm. I imagined eating raspberries with Bliz, Trix and Kit in the back yard. But of course, Bliz would need help finding the raspberries because of her funky feather head. I was awakened from my daydream when Trix clucked, “We’re stopping.” “Hey, maybe we really are already home,” Kit said. “Well, I’m just glad the car stopped because I was getting sick,” I complained. “Shhh,” Bliz said. “Listen!” I heard a door slam shut and an unfamiliar voice say, “Good morning.” We were moving again. Moving, moving, moving. We suddenly came to a stop. I heard a bunch of kids oohing and ahhing. “OWW!” Trix shrieked. “Oh, sorry.” Kit replied. “I didn’t mean to step on your tail feathers.” I shushed them. An older voice announced “Lu Lu brought her chickens to show us.” Suddenly the blanket was pulled off the box. The light momentarily blinded me. I saw first Lu Lu’s face. Then three more small faces appeared. They were probably Lu Lu’s age. “You will need hand sanitizer if you want to touch the chickens,” the older voice said. The children held out their hands and a woman squirted a clear liquid into the children’s hands. They rubbed it in and then a round­faced boy snatched Biz up in his pudgy hands. She let out a squawk of alarm. She couldn’t see well, as I said before, because of the feather afro that covered her eyes. All of her feathers are white with a tinge of gold. She is normally a calm Polish chicken, but noises are one of the things that frightens her. Gibson, the middle child, is her owner. Kit is a black Australorp. She is the oldest in the clutch. She is always there to break up arguments and be a peacemaker. Chris and Audra, the parents, share her. Trix is a Dark Brahma. She has black and white patterned feathers. She is kind of bossy, but she takes care of all of us. She loves food. She is really curious and often wanders away from the group. Elsa, the oldest child in the family, is her owner. I am Flapper. I am an Ameraucana, or Easter Egger. People say I’m very energetic. I’m not afraid to get dirty. I like to be held, but I run and hop away from anyone trying to pick me up. A blond haired girl carefully picked me up out of the box and started stroking my feathers. Soon all four of us were being held, squashed, prodded and poked. Finally the woman with the older voice said “It’s table two's turn.” Next we were being passed to other children. The same thing happened every time. Be held for a while, teacher calls a different table, pass, repeat. Finally it was over. No more germy fingers squeezing us and eyes observing us like a petting zoo. The last children put us back in the box. “That was like the Old Farm where we came from. Everyone grab us to see if they wanted to buy us. So you think we will be sold again?” I asked. “Flapper Dean Grace! Don’t say that!” Kit said crossly. Kit made up a middle and last name for all of us so she could say it when we did something wrong. “Noooo, Nooo, Nooo!” Bliz said. “That was her school I bet. I guess Lu Lu wanted to show us to her friends. Nothing more.” I just now noticed we were moving. When we stopped the sheet was pulled off. But this time no childrens head popped in the box. But an adult head, Chris’ head. “ Where is the class?” I heard him ask. “Oh, at recess.” You are a little late. I heard Trix stretched her wing. “Oh, sorry” Chris apologized. “Do you still have time to show the chickens?” Chris asked. I sat back down slowly. “Ummm, no.” the teacher answered. “After this were having some people over to discuss stranger danger because, as you should know, many people of all ages are going missing.” I started cleaning my feathers and Bliz started pecking at the food. In the blink of an eye it was pitch black and the blanket was back on top. Chapter 2 Back to Normal Life Trix I could finally think outside the box. Was it a big deal a lot of people are going missing? Suddenly I heard a wonderful sound­like maracas, but better. I saw the red bag with the chicken picture on it. There, under the chicken picture was clear so you can see what’s in the bag. “”Here ya go,” Elsa said, grabbing a handful of food and holding it out to me. I hammered my beak into the treats. “Back off,” I told Kit, “This is my food. It’s my owner.” She moved away and Elsa moved forward. I followed her hand as she moved it even closer to her. Then, she grabbed me. I tried to peck at the food in her fist. She set me on her lap, then opened her hand to let me eat the food. I ate it all, “oh Trixie, you love those treats too much,” Elsa said laughing. It was probably true. The treats made me very hot, I noticed, but they’re soooo good. I hopped off Elsa’s lap. I had eaten all the treats in her hand. Hmmmm. It’s not important. I told myself. No one in the family will go missing. They are very smart and Elsa’s learning about it. Huh? I had a feeling in my throat that was weird. Then, kersplat! Happy Hen treats were splattered all over the grass. The grass with the treats was turning black.. “Holy chicken feathers!” I squawked. Then everything went black. I woke up in...a box! I heard crying like when that huge hail storm came and I was caught outside unprotected. Chris had thought I would be blind or die so he told Elsa, Lulu, and Gibson what he thought and they started crying. I flew out of the box to see where I was. “Trixie!” Elsa screamed. She grabbed me and held me close. Now I could see. I was exactly where they took me after the hailstorm, in the bathtub. I flew out of Elsa’s arms and onto the floor. I walked into the hall to the kitchen then stopped. Oh, for feather’s sake. The door leading outside wasn’t open. Audra was baking. “Oh my gosh Elsa! Take Trix outside, will you?” Audra called. “Coming, mom.” Elsa shouted. Suddenly she appeared. “Tell LuLu trisx is alive and we should play pass the chicken.” Pass the chicken is where Chris, LuLu, Gibson, and Elsa hold us chickens for awhile while sitting in a circle, then they pass us around clockwise to the next person. I like the game because normally they feed us treats. So, I waited right there so Elsa could take me out to play pass the chicken. Soon, she picked me up to take me out to see Kit, Bliz, and Flapper. As soon as my feet touched the ground I ran as fast as I could to the other three. “Trix!” they clucked in unison. “What happened?’ Kit asked. “I blacked out,” I replied. “Why?” Bliz asked. I struggled to explain. I couldn’t remember. Then, it hit me. I had puked out my food and the grass that had food turned black and shriveled. Then, I fainted from the shock. “We were so worried,” flapper said, sounding really sad. “I started to pick at my feathers,” Bliz laid down again. I think Bliz closed her eyes. It’s hard to tell through the forest of feathers on her head. Soon, Kit and Flapper were laying down and closing their eyes, but I just walked away to look for bugs. As I pecked at the ground I heard the gate open and shut. I saw Elsa, Gibson, and LuLu walk in. Elsa grabbed the treat bag and shook. I ran to the treats. Elsa grabbed me and set me in her lap. She stroked my head in the perfect spot. I watched Gibson pick up Bliz and put her head in his arm pit so she would be calm. Chris opened the gate and came towards us. He sat in the circle holding Kit . It seemed that everything was normal, that everything was going to be okay. We played pass the chicken a few times around. Elsa set me down. Pass the chicken was over and I would go look for bugs now. Just when I thought everything was normal, I spewed Happy Hen Treats on the playhouse. The wall slowly turned as black as Kit’s feathers. The blackness spread. What was wrong with me? Am I mad? Am I an enchantress? No. Nothing was normal. That’s for sure. This is just the first few chapters of what will be a longer adventure novel.