Madeline

Chapter 25

"Alright, now you want to grab them quick," Michael coached. "Especially with the gray one. She can be nasty. The white one there is a little more tolerant than the rest, but she's still not crazy about hands in her nest."

I nodded and tried to work up the courage to actually reach in and take an egg.

I'd been pushing Anne a little bit about letting me help with things around the house and she was coming around to the idea, giving me small chores here and there. Unfortunately, collecting the eggs was one of those chores. It was usually either Michael's job or Waverly's when she was here, but they weren't always around. I didn't want to complain, and I honestly wanted to help, but the hens scared me a little. Probably because I'd never actually seen one other than on my plate. They were bigger than I expected and their beaks looked sharp. Michael's warnings weren't easing my nerves either.

"Don't they have names?" I asked, stalling.

Michael looked at me curiously. "Should they?"

"Of course they should. How do you know which one is which if you're not looking right at them?"

"Gray one. White one. Brown one." He pointed to each hen in turn.

"That one's white too," I said, pointing down the line. "And three of the others are brown."

Michael laughed. "I guess I never thought it was very important to identify them properly."

"Well, suppose your mother told you to kill the white one for dinner and you chose the wrong one."

"I guess the world would end." He smirked.

I pursed my lips.

"They're just chickens. One's about the same as another to me. And if I'm picking the one to go, it's gonna be the one that's pecked me the most. I'd just have to swear to my mother that I thought she said to kill the gray one."

"They should have names," I said stubbornly.

"Feel free." He waved at them. "I don't think they'll come when they're called though."

With a laugh, I focused on the hens, thinking. A minute went by and nothing was coming to me.

"So?" he asked, sounding amused.

"I'm not sure." I turned to him. "I haven't had a lot of practice naming things."

"We could just name them according to their identifying features," he suggested.

I looked at the hens again, trying to see what different marks they might have that set them apart from one another, when Michael began pointing and giving suggestions.

"Gray. White. White two. Brown. Brown two...No, sorry, that's Brown three."

Laughing, I smacked his arm. "I'll let you know what I come up with later."

He grinned for a moment and then said, "have you stalled enough?"

I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed at me.

Steeling myself and taking a deep breath, I quickly reached into the nest. The moment I felt something that wasn't hay, I closed my fingers around it and snatched my hand back, squealing a little, sure that I was going to get pecked.

When I opened my hand, I grinned at the egg resting in my palm.

"How about that," Michael teased. "Hand's still attached and everything."

I made a face at him and then realized that Reed had come up behind him.

"Hi!" I said happily, holding my prize up for him to see. "I got an egg!"