The Chicken of the Family

As the youngest of three, I put up with all sorts of teasing and tricks when I was a wee chick, so I completely identified with Henrietta, the smallest of three sisters in this satisfying tale of gullibility and chickens coming home to roost. "We have a secret to tell you," oldest sister Kim confides to Henrietta before bed one night. "You're a chicken. Mom got you from Barney's farm." Kim and Clare claim that they have to pluck out Henrietta's new-grown feathers every morning, and that's why they get more allowance than she does. And the eggs they eat every morning? Kim says, "We get them from you." What if her sisters are telling her the truth? "I am not a chicken," she chants to herself under the covers. But in the morning, what's that in her bed? That's right—an egg. And there, on the floor by the bed, are two brown feathers. Stunned, Henrietta marches down to Barney's henhouse down the road and announces to the chickens, "It's me. I'm home." When her sisters come to get her, she tells them, "I like being a chicken. These chickens are nicer to me than you guys are."

Themes : CHICKENS. FAMILY LIFE.