The Egg Mother

Christine sits crosslegged on the ground discussing politics with another mother.  As she cracks pecans and feeds them to Big Hen, Scrappy Little Hen and their baby,  Scrappy says, "Barrraaack" ; Christine says "Obama" and shares a nut with her. 

The story of the Egg Mother began last summer when she found a large egg sitting near the pond abandoned.  Never one to ignore someone in need, she carried the egg to the chicken house.  Big Hen and Scrappy were delighted to have an egg they could keep.  Christine removed their's on a daily basis for her human children.
Everyday, the girls would take turns sitting on the large egg, until Christine let them into the yard to chase bugs and exercise.  At suppertime, they ran back to the roost for food and to check on their big egg.  Big Hen was always the mouthy one,cackling gossip from sun up to sun down, while Scrappy managed to catch more bugs by concentrating on what she was doing.  Until the subject of politics came up, she had rarely spoken.

One day, it finally happened, the egg began to crack and the girls were so excited, both cackled to call Christine.  They didn't seem to notice when the ugly grey bird became visible.  He sat there with his eyes half closed waiting to be fed.  Both hens thought he was beautiful. Both brought him bugs and sat on him to keep him warm. 

He kept growing, and one day jumped from the nest.  When darkness was near, the girls were in hysterics.  They would jump up into the nest and call him, then jump back down and race around him.  Finally Christine heard the noise and came to help.  From then on, Christine made sure to arrive at sundown to put the baby in the nest.  As he grew, he would put his head down and snuggle into the nest between his moms.  He was becoming so big that both hens were shoved to the sides of the nest.  But there was no complaining on their part.  Later they tried to roost on the picnic table for there was very little room in their nest.

There came a day when other birds that looked like their son were leaving the pond and flying south.  Christine noticed that the ugly bird had grown slick beautiful feathers and had become a lovely Canadian Goose.  But Goose still believed he was a chicken and was happy in his home.  She took him to the pond to swim.  He knew how without being taught, but Big Hen and Scrappy went into hysterics once more.  They were sure he would drown and he minded them.  He stopped swimming and stayed in the yard catching bugs.

When the pecans were ripe, Christine discovered that all three loved the nuts if she would crack them.  So everyday, she would gather some for her human family, then would sit and crack some for the chickens and Goose.  Now Goose is a wild bird, and she found that if she made a sudden move or startled him, he would move away fast.  But, when she sat real still and held out a nut, Goose would take it from her hand.  One day, a squirrel came by for a share.  Christine sat very still watching the squirrel picking up nuts until all of a sudden, he jumped into her lap.  She screamed.  The squirrel screamed and turned a backward somersault, and Goose bit the squirrel before it landed on the ground.

Now, Christine knows that Goose will protect his two moms and even her.  So, they share evenings after work, eating nuts, chasing bugs and discussing politics.  This story has no end because adventure follows the Egg Mother.  Perhaps we can peek in on her again sometime.

OhMy