Preening Dreams - Chapter 5

"Let me, let me." Celina pleaded her dad.

"Wait, wait." Her father smoothly took away the bamboo lid that covered the metal bushel. The metal bushel was half filled with sand. Inside the bushel, Celina could see a broody hen sitting in the middle of the bushel. Her father told her that the hen was sitting on a clutch of eggs and the eggs were covered by her wings and feathers.

Celina could not see any eggs.

"Where are the eggs?" Celina questioned curiously.

"They are here." Her dad carefully lifted the left wing of the hen and showed the eggs underneath.

"When will the chicks come out, dad?"

"In another ten days. But you should not disturb the eggs often."

"Why. I want to hold the eggs for a while on my hand. Shall I?" Celina looked at her dad.

"No, Celi, then the chicks will not grow properly."

"Now go and bring that small container with water and leave it inside the bushel. The hen may need water to drink."

Celina brought the small container with water and gave it to her dad. Her dad carefully placed it near the hen. The hen put her beak into the container and drank some water.

Celina's dad once again placed the bamboo lid on the bushel and asked her to go and play. Though Celina knew she should not disturb the hen, every day she spent some time looking through the bamboo lid and watch the brooding hen.

The hen rarely came out of the bushel. Sometimes the hen slowly changed the places of the eggs under her. It did so, so that all the eggs received the warmth uniformly. If the eggs received heat uniformly, it will definitely hatch after 21 days and no egg will go waste.

One day while Celina was playing in front of her house, her dad called her. He took an egg from the bushel and placed it near Celina's ear.

"Can you hear the chick?" Celina could hear the soft tap of chick from inside the egg.

"Yes." She looked at her dad with a smile.

"In another one or two days chicks will hatch."

"Will you then let me hold the chick on my hand?"

"Sure. Please wait for another two days."

Next day morning when Celina peeped through the bamboo lid, she heard the soft sound of a chick.

'Dad.' She screamed with excitement and ran into the house to call her dad. Her dad counted the number of chicks that hatched from the eggs. One egg was left behind. Celina's dad took that unhatched egg and gave it to Celina. He asked her to throw it down the drain as no chick will come out of that.

Celina threw it away near the fence. The shell of the egg broke and the remains of the egg splashed on the ground. It spread along the ground with a bad smell showing a mixture of liquid and a lump of tissues.
To continue....