In chapter 1 Jake and his mom just got new chicks. One of the chicks is grey with hairy green legs. Jake names her Pecky Greenleg and then finds out that ‘she’ is a ‘he’…and can talk.
In chapter 2 Jake and Pecky decide to try and learn where Pecky came from as none of the other chicks can talk. Jake promises to start at the hatchery.
In chapter 3 Jake tells Pecky he had no luck at the hatchery but that the man he talked to seemed nervous and uncomfortable talking about the gray chicks so they decide they need to go to the post office to find out more about the delivery.
In chapter 4 Jake and Pecky visit the local post office where they learn that the delivery man from McDougal Hatchery came back after the delivery and swapped the package with another box.
In chapter 5 Pecky and Jake decide that they need to take a trip back to the hatchery to confront Gilbert.
In chapter 6 Jake takes Pecky back to the hatchery to confront Gilbert and they discover that Gilbert can hear Pecky too.
Chapter 7
Jake eyed Gilbert warily as he stepped into the office.
“You can hear Pecky?”
He shut the door.
“Yes,” said Gilbert.
Jake was surprised. Not even his mom could hear Pecky.
Gilbert gestured to the chair in front of his desk.
“Let me explain.”
Jake carefully set the backpack on the floor before sitting down.
You might as well take me out of here.
Jake looked at Gilbert, still a little afraid he might try to hurt or steal Pecky.
Oh go on. If he wanted to hurt me, he would have already.
“I don’t want to hurt either of you,” said Gilbert. “It’s why I placed Pecky with you in the first place.”
Jake unzipped the backpack and Pecky hopped out with a ruffle of feathers and a quiet squawk.
Now that we are all here, why don’t you start your tale.
“You are not a normal chicken, and you’re not the only one of your kind.”
My kind?
“His kind?” Jake and Pecky said at the same time.
Gilbert nodded.
Well then, you’d better start at the beginning.
“Right,” said Gilbert. “A few weeks ago, we found a box of chicks in the lobby. No one knew where it came from. It just appeared on the front desk one day. When we opened the box, we found 25 gray chicks with green legs. We’d never seen a breed like it before.”
“What do you mean it “just appeared” one day?” Jake asked.
“Exactly what I said, our secretary came into work and the box was on her desk with a note attached to the top.”
Gilbert reached in his desk drawer and pulled out a small wooden box, unlocked it and pulled a piece of paper out.
“We kept it, hoping that one day we would figure out what it meant.”
Jake cleared his throat and read the note out loud. “’These chicks are special and need your protection. Please take care of them and never let them leave the hatchery. Danger awaits them outside your doors.’”
“But, the note says to never let them leave here,” said Jake, looking at Pecky.
“I’m getting to that. For the first few days nothing unusual happened. We were all trying to figure out where the chicks came from and what kind they were. Then the accidents started.”
Accidents?
“At first, we thought they were just that. Accidents. But then we realized that they were only happening to the gray chicks. We questioned everyone, trying to understand why.”
And?
“They all claimed they didn’t know and two of the newer people left before we could question them.”
“They left?” asked Jake.
“Yep. We tried to track them down but no one knew where they’d gone.”
But, if you can understand me, why didn’t you just talk to the other chicks?
“Because,” said Gilbert. “I only found out I could understand you when I got to the post office. I’d already switched the boxes out once. I couldn’t very well do it a second time without raising suspicion.”
Why didn’t you just ask the others when you got back to the hatchery?
“Because,” said Gilbert. “You were the only one left.”
a pinch of homestead 