Clever Chicks Read online

  Mr McPhail, their animal husbandry teacher, was in the field slashing the far paddock.

  ‘Bedazzled!’ called Hannah, and the big thoroughbred ambled towards her with Pepper, Abbey’s horse, following along behind.

  ‘Look at Pudding,’ said Talika in frustration. The short, fat, brown pony had lifted his head and was watching them, but made no effort to move.

  ‘He’s waiting to see if we have food for him,’ laughed Abbey.

  ‘He is such a guts!’ said Talika, rolling her eyes. ‘He only ever comes if I have food.’

  ‘I had a horse like that when I was little,’ said Hannah. ‘Mum made me go out into the paddock about three times a day and call him. Sometimes I had food and sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes I caught him to ride, but other times I just patted him.’

  ‘That’s a good idea,’ said Abbey. ‘That way the horse doesn’t get into the habit of thinking that whenever you call it, they’re going to be caught and ridden.’

  ‘I’m going to try that,’ said Talika. She grabbed a handful of lucerne and called Pudding over. He came as soon as he saw her emerge from the feed shed. As he ate the hay, she patted him all over but didn’t catch him.

  ‘You just have to out-think them,’ smiled Hannah. ‘Next time, go into the feed shed and come out empty handed. When he comes over, just pat him. Keep changing what you do all the time.’

  The bell rang to signal the end of their break, and the girls headed off to class.

  ‘I’m so glad it’s Friday,’ said Talika. ‘Do you want to go for a ride in the cane fields tomorrow?’

  But before they could answer, Bonnie, who was jogging down the path towards them yelled out, ‘Ms Sterling is looking for you guys!’

  ‘Hello,’ said the principal. ‘Come in and take a seat.’

  Three chairs had been placed in front of Ms Sterling’s desk. The principal put her pen down and watched the girls closely as they sat. She paused for a moment and then spoke.

  ‘Girls,’ she said, ‘I have dealt with the chicken fiasco that took place in the dining hall this morning, but I wondered if we might have a chat?’

  Making eye contact with Abbey, she said, ‘I like strong young women and girls who stand up for what they believe in, but it’s always important to show your strength in a respectful and polite way. You’ll be far more likely to succeed with your goal if you can.’

  Abbey nodded. ‘Sorry I was rude, Ms Sterling,’ she said.

  Ms Sterling then turned her gaze to Hannah. ‘I also value loyalty, but I cannot over-stress how important it is that you don’t follow someone’s actions just because they’re your friend. You need to make sure you’re always behaving in a way that you are comfortable with, not because you feel pressure to do so.’

  Abbey glanced over at Hannah. Elizabeth must have come to see Ms Sterling too and Hannah would have been feeling very angry at her sister’s lack of loyalty.

  Hannah’s back stiffened as she stared down at her hands. Abbey started to say something, but Hannah looked up and cut her off.

  ‘Ms Sterling, since I met Abbey and Talika, I’ve felt more like a leader than I ever have before. For the first time in my life, I’m not afraid to say what I think, or to be what I want to be. I’m not following anyone, Ms Sterling. I’m walking beside them. Isn’t that what you want us to do at Willowvale?’

  Ms Sterling was clearly stunned. This was obviously not the answer she was expecting. A faint smile crossed her lips. Abbey and Talika stared at their friend, normally so quiet, in absolute admiration. Hannah stared straight at the principal.

  ‘Well,’ said Ms Sterling. ‘That is wonderful to hear, and yes, it is what I expect of a Willowvale girl. I will certainly pass that message on to your parents, should they be concerned.’

  ‘Thank you, Ms Sterling,’ said Hannah, quietly.

  The principal nodded and the girls stood up, leaving the office and heading off to their next class.

  ‘Come on, you pathetic puppies,’ laughed Hannah, as they turned down the next corridor. ‘Heel!’

  The day finished quickly and the girls raced straight to their chicks after their last lesson.

  ‘Come on, Poopy,’ said Talika, lifting her tiny yellow chick from the box. Lots of the other girls had come down to work with their chicks too, and they were all clicking and calling their babies.

  ‘I don’t think there’s any way they’re going to learn anything in here,’ said Hannah. ‘It’s all going to be much too confusing.’

  ‘Where else can we go?’ said Talika.

  ‘The dining hall is free,’ laughed Abbey.

  ‘Ha, ha!’ said Hannah. ‘What about another empty classroom?’

  They agreed and carried their chicks and the bag of equipment towards a maths room a few doors down. They saw one of the maths teachers, Mr Bryson, on the way and he said it was fine as long as they cleaned up and didn’t touch anything that they shouldn’t. The room was perfect. Nice and quiet with lots of space to spread out.

  ‘Right, so first of all we have to teach them that every time there’s a click, they get a treat,’ said Hannah. She placed Aussie on a clean table and stood in front of her. The chick peeped noisily and looked around. Abbey and Talika watched on, with their chicks snuggled into their jumpers. Abbey grinned when she noticed that Talika had virtually wrapped the back half of her chick in tissues.

  Hannah put some crumble in the dish, then clicked and popped the dish in front of Aussie. Aussie took a peck of food. Hannah pulled the dish back, then repeated it.

  ‘She likes this game,’ laughed Abbey.

  ‘Try it from behind her and see if she turns around when she hears the click,’ said Talika.

  ‘She did it!’ gasped Hannah, when her chick turned to face the sound.

  They tried it a few more times then gave little Aussie a rest in Hannah’s warm jumper. She kept her hand over the chick, so that Aussie wouldn’t be disturbed by the clicker while the others had their turns.

  ‘The problem is,’ said Talika, ‘they have this food in their pens all the time, so it isn’t really that much of a treat. See how Rhody has sort of lost interest?’

  Abbey’s chicken had wandered away and wasn’t reacting to the clicker at all. Only Poopy was still chasing the food.

  ‘We should find out what treats there are for chicks,’ said Abbey.

  ‘You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Poopy?’ laughed Talika.

  ‘I think they need to go back to their house,’ said Hannah. ‘We don’t want to make them sick by wearing them out. Mrs Parry did say they need a lot of sleep.’

  When they got back to the science lab, most of the other girls had left and their chicks were sitting under the warm lamps in their boxes. Mrs Parry was marking some papers at her desk.

  ‘Did Ms Sterling find you?’ she said.

  The girls nodded.

  ‘Is she letting us keep the chicks?’ said Hannah, her fingers crossed behind her back.

  ‘As long as there’s no more trouble,’ sighed Mrs Parry. ‘I’ve apologised to Mrs Bristow for forgetting to say the dining hall was out of bounds.’

  Abbey was going to say something, but thought better of it.

  ‘Mrs Parry,’ said Talika, looking at her phone, ‘it says here that scrambled egg and chopped lettuce are really good for little chicks. Can we use some to train our chicks? We think they need more motivation than chicken starter.’

  Mrs Parry laughed. ‘It’s fine with me,’ she said, ‘and yes, they’re both good treats for chicks. Please, don’t ask me to get them from Mrs Bristow for you though!’

  ‘We like a challenge,’ said Abbey.

  They settled their babies in for the night.

  ‘Bye, Mrs Parry. Thanks for getting the chicks for us,’ said Hannah. Mrs Parry smiled as they left the room.

  After they had a quick shower the girls went to dinner. Apart from a huge sign on the dining room door that said, ‘NO CHICKENS ALLOWED!’ they got through the meal without a hitch.
Mrs Bristow didn’t even notice their pockets packed with lettuce leaves as they left.

  ‘So, what are we going to do in the cane fields tomorrow?’ asked Abbey, lying back on her bed and surrounded by her collection of stuffed toys. She was a little bored with just riding up and down the long, straight rows of cane that grew in paddocks not far from the school.

  ‘Well,’ said Hannah, excitedly, ‘I think I might have come up with something fun!’

  Talika and Abbey sat up to listen.

  ‘What about a game of hide-and-seek on horseback? We can take it in turns to be in, while the others hide. We could even have a scarf or flag or something that the “hiders” need to try to retrieve without the seeker seeing!’

  ‘I love the idea of this,’ said Talika. ‘For the first time ever, it might be an advantage that Pudding is short.’

  Hannah and Abbey laughed.

  ‘Lights out, girls,’ said a voice from down the hall.

  Abbey nodded off thinking about the game in the cane fields tomorrow. Pepper would love racing up and down the rows and his speed would be a definite advantage.

  The rooster woke Abbey before her alarm, and Abbey snuck down to the science room to give their chicks a little of the lettuce they had cut into tiny pieces using scissors the night before. She changed their paper and cleaned their water bowl and gave each a tiny hug before heading back to her room.

  Hannah and Talika had stirred and were changing into their riding clothes before breakfast.

  ‘I hope Mrs Bristow’s making scrambled eggs,’ said Abbey. Then she told the girls how much their chicks had loved the lettuce pieces. ‘I can’t believe the mess they’d made of their newspaper though,’ she said. ‘There was poop everywhere.’

  ‘I think we know where most of that is coming from,’ laughed Hannah, digging Talika in the ribs.

  ‘Hey!’ protested Talika. ‘It’s not my chick’s fault if she likes food.’

  They made their way to the dining hall but were disappointed to find only porridge and toast were on the menu. The girls had to wait until everyone was finished so that Abbey could empty the pig bucket, but they did their best to stay out of Mrs Bristow’s way. They went and cleaned their teeth and came back to read the notices on the common board while they waited. There were all kinds of notes from girls asking for help with assignments, seeking tutors and even a note for a lost toothbrush.

  ‘Seriously,’ said Hannah, ‘if I lost my toothbrush, there’s no way I’d want it back two weeks later. It could have been anywhere.’ She shuddered as she no doubt imagined one lying on a bathroom floor or something.

  When the last of the girls had scraped their plates into the scrap bin, Abbey took it down to the pig sty. Hannah had to help carry the heavy bin because, judging by the weight of it, Mrs Bristow’s porridge had not been a favourite. Boris and Henrietta disagreed as they plunged their snouts into the still-warm slops.

  ‘Well, at least someone is happy that today was porridge day,’ sighed Talika.

  The girls retrieved their riding gear out of the tack room where the saddles and bridles were kept and hung it over the doors to their stables. The horses had been out in the far paddock overnight, but when Pepper saw Abbey, he came trotting through the far gate and crossed the paddock to the open stables that ran down along one edge of the paddock. Abbey greeted him with a big hug.

  ‘Come on, Bedazzled!’ called Hannah, and her huge bay gelding began the long walk to where she waited.

  Pudding looked up for a moment, then plunged his head back into the grass he was feasting on.

  ‘Pudding,’ Talika called sweetly, banging on the side of his feed bin with a hoof pick.

  The short, very fat pony looked up, took a few steps in the opposite direction, shook his shaggy mane, then plunged his head deeper into the grass.

  ‘Am I imagining it, or did he just deliberately turn his back to me when I called him?’ said Talika in disgust.

  ‘Well,’ Hannah said delicately, as she slid a halter over her horse’s head, ‘it kind of looked like it.’

  Talika was getting a bit cross. She picked up a wooden-handled brush and banged it loudly against the metal bin.

  ‘Pudding!’ she called.

  Pudding continued to eat, not even bothering to look up this time.

  Talika grabbed her halter and stormed across the paddock. Abbey could still hear her ranting and raving, this time in her first language, when she got to the open gate that separated the paddocks.

  ‘She’s funny the way she always speaks Hindi when she gets cross,’ said Hannah. ‘I wonder what she’s saying.’

  ‘I don’t think it’s nice, by the tone of it,’ said Abbey.

  The girls climbed up onto the post rail to watch the show. Pudding had now seen Talika coming, and seemed to be trying to eat even faster.

  ‘Pudding, come here now!’ yelled Talika, her hands on her hips.

  ‘She’s pretty loud for someone not that big,’ laughed Abbey. ‘My brothers would be very impressed!’

  The shaggy brown pony looked up, snorted and shook his head. He did not take one step closer to his owner.

  Talika’s voice changed. The girls couldn’t hear what she was saying, but it was in a sing-song tone, and now Talika was holding out some bread that she had shoved into her back pocket.

  ‘I think she’s changing her approach,’ smiled Hannah.

  Pudding saw the bread and was instantly interested. He took a few steps in the right direction.

  Talika moved forwards slowly.

  ‘This is looking positive,’ giggled Abbey. ‘The food does it every time with that little piggy.’

  The white bread flapped ever so temptingly in Talika’s hand. Pudding gave into his weakness and trotted forwards.

  ‘Good boy,’ said Hannah under her breath.

  The girls watched as Pudding stretched his neck out to the bread. Hannah and Abbey could see his lips flapping as he tried to get it without taking a step closer to Talika.

  ‘This could be trouble,’ said Abbey. ‘If she lets him have that bread before the rope is around his neck, it could end very badly for Talika.’

  No sooner had she said it than Pudding jutted his neck out and snatched the bread from the unsuspecting Talika’s hand, then, in a heartbeat he spun around and took off across the paddock to the far corner.

  Talika threw her halter down in anger. She stomped her feet and the Hindi words rang clearly across the open space between her and the two girls who were now laughing on the fence line.

  Talika walked back slowly, defeat in every step.

  ‘I think we need a plan B for that cheeky little rat,’ said Abbey.

  ‘I give up,’ said Talika. ‘We could be here all morning and I don’t want you girls to miss out on your ride. You should go.’

  ‘As it happens, that is my plan B,’ smiled Abbey.

  Talika looked a little hurt and confused.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ said Abbey. ‘We’re not really leaving you behind, we’re just going to make Pudding think that he’s been left behind. To teach him a lesson.’

  Hannah and Abbey quickly saddled their horses and mounted up, all the while patting them and loudly telling them what good boys they were.

  ‘Okay,’ said Abbey. ‘Are you ready, Tali?’

  Talika nodded and hid in the stable. Then, making a big show of it, Abbey and Hannah began trotting away from the stables, being careful to take a line straight out, so that the only place Pudding could watch them go was from inside his stable.

  Pepper and Bedazzled headed off happily.

  Pudding, on the other hand, was not happy. He whinnied after them. Bedazzled answered in a low reply, but kept up with Pepper.

  Pudding started to trot around in the paddock. He ran from side to side, looking over the fences along the sides, but he couldn’t see the other horses as the stables blocked his view.

  He whinnied and whinnied. From her hiding place, Talika would have heard another sound from Be
dazzled, this time further off. Abbey was certain that Pudding heard it too, because now when they turned around she could see the pony’s little face trying to peer over the half door of his stable.

  Bang!

  Abbey heard the back door to the stable slam behind the cheeky pony. As she and Hannah rode back to the stable, Abbey could see that Pudding was nuzzling Talika affectionately and taking the opportunity to sniff her pockets for any more scraps of bread.

  ‘It will be a long time before you get any more scraps of bread out of me, you naughty boy,’ she laughed, giving him a huge hug around the neck.

  The girls saw Mr McPhail on the way out of the school. He was tending to a fence in the lambs’ paddock. His trusty border collie, Drover, was sitting in the shade of a small tree, watching. When Drover saw the girls he trotted over, wagging his tail happily.

  Abbey climbed down off Pepper to give Drover a scratch on the belly.

  ‘Had a bit of fun catching Pudding, did you?’ said Mr McPhail, pushing the brim of his hat back with the pliers in his hand.

  ‘Yes,’ said Talika, looking a little embarrassed. ‘He needs to learn a few manners. Don’t you, Pudding?’

  Pudding was too busy trying to pull his head down so he could eat the grass around a fence post to respond.

  ‘Can Drover come to the cane fields with us?’ asked Abbey. Drover jumped up and wagged his tail when he heard his name.

  ‘Sure,’ said their teacher. ‘Until he learns to fix fences, he’s not a lot of use to me right now.’

  So the happy group headed off to try out Hannah’s game.

  ‘Seriously, Pep, they have to be here somewhere!’

  Abbey stood up in the stirrups of her saddle to try to get a better view, but the sugarcane that surrounded her and Pepper was way too high to see over. When her hand rested on the horse’s neck, it was wet with sweat. They had been racing up and down the long lanes of cane for at least ten minutes, and still her roommates were nowhere to be seen.