Chapter 4: I want to be a chicken
"John I want to be a chicken." Did he hear that right? William was climbing out of the bed; the child was up early, earlier than usual.
"Okay, so you need my help for it?" John was tired; he hadn't really slept. First a late night shift, then William not wanting to sleep and now woken at half past six in the morning.
"We will be fine. Mr. Bee will help me. Just wanted you to know and I'm going downstairs."
John turned around. "Alright, but don't leave the flat." William nodded and together with Mr. Bee he headed downstairs, John fell back asleep.
William and Mr. Bee had been allowed to watch a documentary about chickens the day before. It was really interesting to watch them live on a farm, laying eggs, like the ones John cracked for breakfast. But if you didn't crack them, then they hatched and baby chickens came out. William wanted many baby chickens, because they were yellow, his favorite color.
First thing they need was a nest. "Like the hens on television." He told Mr. Bee and together they built one. They used a cushion and a few blankets to make a wall around the cushion.
"Now we need the egg."
They opened the fridge and found them. William counted them, seven. John always used four for their breakfast, so he could use three.
Very carefully William picked them up and put them in his hand. It was a bit complicated to carry three eggs and Mr. Bee at the same time but he managed it.
They placed the eggs on the cushion. "Now we need to keep them warm and then the baby chicks will hatch." William was excited. As was Mr. Bee.
The bee was sitting on top of the eggs and William hugging them with his arms to keep them warm.
When John came downstairs he was quite surprised that the flat was still standing. The egg hatching thing was cute and a bit strange but he hadn't decided jet when he would tell William that it wouldn't work. John didn't want to destroy his dreams but just letting it be, would make him sadder.
"William, sweetheart, I have to tell you something." The boy laid a finger on his lips and shushed him.
"Quiet, you will wake the baby chickens." John sighed and sat down next to the busy egg hatcher.
"It won't work like that." William looked up to him. "I'm sorry but you need different kinds of eggs and a warmer place to hatch a baby chicken." William sat up and lifted Mr. Bee from the eggs to look at them.
"But the man in the television said that you have to keep them warm and then they will hatch. He didn't say anything about special eggs." John remembered the documentary.
"That's true, but he said that you need a male and a female chicken, a hen and a rooster so that the eggs laid by the hen have baby chicks inside. The eggs in the supermarket and our fridge are from hens that didn't have a rooster close by. They are like that so we won't eat baby chickens."
William lifted one of the eggs. "So there won't be any yellow baby birds coming out of my eggs?"
"No, William, but we can visit a museum, they have an exhibition where they hatch them and you can touch the chicks if you want. Would you like that?"
"Yes, but what is with the eggs? You said food that belongs into a fridge can go bad if you let it outside."
"I think the eggs are still fine for our breakfast." John took the offered eggs in one hand and William´s hand in the other. Together they walked over to the kitchen for breakfast.
