Peppy the Squeaking Chicken
By Heather L. Gonzalez
Mr. McFeely had many animals on his farm. Each animal was special in its own way. One of his favorite animals was the chickens. There were red chickens. There were brown chickens. There were black chickens. There were even white chickens. Everyday, Mr. McFeely would feed his chickens and collect their eggs.
One day, Mr. McFeely started to notice that one of his chickens wasn’t growing as large as the others and had not laid any eggs. This little black chicken would just hop and flutter around the barnyard as happy and peppy as can be. So, Mr. McFeely decided to name her Peppy.
Peppy was different from the other chickens, but she did not mind. She loved the way her feathers felt as she hopped and danced around the coop. The other hens began to notice that Peppy wasn’t exactly like them. The leader of the coop, Big Red Hen, wanted all of the hens to be just like her.
“You are not laying any eggs!” Big Red Hen clucked. “The farmer won’t like this at all.”
“But, there are so many eggs to collect each morning. He will not mind.” Peppy chirped as she danced around, not paying much attention to the Big Red Hen.
“Why would anyone want a chicken like you?” The Big Red Hen clucked and walked away.
What Big Red Hen had said really hurt Peppy’s feelings. Instead of being proud of who she was, she began to feel that she wasn’t like all of the other hens.
Peppy couldn’t make herself grow any bigger, but maybe she could lay eggs like the other hens. So, she sat down in one of the nests and tried her hardest to lay an egg. She pushed and pushed and pushed. But all that came out was a big SQUEAK from her tiny beak.
All of the chickens in the coop began to laugh. This made Peppy feel embarrassed and ashamed to be different. She used to love being herself, but now all she wanted to do was be just like the other hens. When it was time to roost for the night, Peppy just sat in that nest feeling sad. Soon night time came and everyone else on the farm had fallen asleep.
As Peppy sat all alone in her nest, it just so happened that a hungry fox was chewing through the fence outside the coop. Just as Peppy was about to give up and go to sleep, she saw something move past the coop. Being small, she was able to fly to the window quietly. That’s when she saw the fox half way through prying the door open with his sharp claws and teeth.
Peppy had to do something. She knew she was the only one awake. But what could she do? Then she realized that she could do the only thing that no other chicken could do. She SQUEAKED as loud and as long as she could. The noise not only scared the fox, but it woke the other chickens just in time to see the fox scurrying away.
“You saved us!” yelled Big Red Hen. “Only you could make a noise like that to scare away a fox!”
All of the chickens cheered and Peppy once again felt proud to be different. She was exactly who she was meant to be.
From that day on, she was the coops official alarm for whenever there was a fox nearby. The other hens now could see that Peppy was perfect just the way she was.
Writing In The Deep 