 The warm
sunshine spilled brightly as I climbed on the
school
bus to be taken to the high school in the next
town. I found
the ride rather boring that day as the bus
meandered through
farm lands and hollows, past cows grazing
serenely in fields
and with each stop made to pick up passengers, I
was so filled
with my boredom that I never noticed the beauty
of the new
green leaves that covered the once barren trees
of Winter.

As I looked down over the bridge to the Juniata
River that
we crossed over every day, it looked muddy from
the Spring
rains. My mood was just as muddy as I sat
forlorn and silent
while my fellow school mates chattered like
magpies.

I thought, nothing ever happens of interest to
me, same old
rut to trudge every day. I was having a first
class pity party.
As we arrived , I prepared for my classes. Upon
entering
Biology class, I heard the unmistakable sounds
of chirping
coming from under an incubator cover. To my
amazement there
were three baby chicks wobbling around and they
looked like
a ball of yellow fluff complete with beaks.

Everyone gathered around and voices of "Awwww"
sounded
from the girls and "Hey Man, that's neat" came
from the guys.
We were instructed to be seated and taught of
how baby
chicks came from fertilized eggs to fruition of
birth I was no
longer bored, but delighted at the wonder of it
all.

The next day's class was exciting because we
were given the
chance to gently hold a chick. Much to my
surprise, my name
was called out and I had won a chick to take
home .

I received a little brown paper sandwich bag
complete with
chick inside. As I sat behind the bus driver,
little chirping
sounds were heard throughout the bus, but no one
could
figure where the sounds were coming from.

Suddenly, my 15 year old heart mentally sang as
we went
back over that river bridge and the farm lands
never looked
so pretty to me. I had stopped feeling sorry for
myself and
saw the beauty in God's creation, all because of
a baby chick
that was given to me to care for.

I named him Rusty and he became my pet.
Ann Marie Fisher
©March 29, 2007

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