fine，feathered(furless)friends

名称：fine，feathered(furless)friends
内容简介：
Dear Arizona,
　　My parents said we can get a pet, but my mom has allergies. So my choices are a fish, bird, hermit crab, turtle, or lizard. I feel sad that I can't have a furry, cuddly animal. How can I pick a pet and feel happy about it?
　 —Choosing in Chattanooga

Dear Choosing,
　　I know what you mean about wanting a cuddly ball of fluff, but the animals on your list would probably make wonderful pets, too! I could spend hours staring at those amazing lizards in the pet store. And I recently had an experience that made me fall in love with birds!

I know what you mean about wanting a cuddly ball of f luff, but the animals on your list would probably make wonderful pets, too! I could spend hours staring at those amazing lizards in the pet store. And I recently had an experience that made me fall in love with birds!

A couple of months before summer break, my class got three chicken eggs in a warm box called an incubator. Every day we’d look at the eggs through a window and write down our observations in our science journals.

Here’s what my journal entries looked like:

　　Day 1: I see three eggs.
　　Day 2: I see three eggs.
　　Day 3: I see three eggs.
　　Day 4: I see three eggs. And a fly keeps landing on my journal.

As you can probably tell, the science project didn’t seem that exciting. Until—

“Check it out!” my friend Mareya said. “This one’s hatching!”

At first, there was just the smallest hole in the egg, with the teeniest beak poking through. But after a while, a piece of shell broke off.

“I can see his feathers!” said J.D.

“I can see her feathers!” I said.

“Who cares if it’s a boy or a girl?” Mareya said as a big piece of shell broke off. “I can see its whole little face, and it’s adorable!”

That morning, my sciencejournal notes got a lot more interesting. And by the next day, all three babies had hatched. We named them Cheep, Chirp, and Peep, and they were the sweetest things I’d seen in my entire life.

If our parents said it was OK, we could take turns bringing the chicks home with us overnight. A good thing was that I got a turn to chicken-sit. A not-so-good thing was what happened when I let the chicks out in my room.

“Here, chick chick chicky!” I called.

“Here, chick chick chicky!” called Tex and Indi (my twin siblings) and Mareya. Cheep and Chirp waddled over to us and happily started cleaning their feathers, but somehow Peep had completely vanished!

“Maybe she f lew out the window,” said Mareya.

“Nope,” I said. “The window’s shut tight.”

“Maybe Cow snuck in and took her,” said Tex.

“No!” yelled Indi.

“It’s OK,” I told Indi. “Cow’s sound asleep in the laundry basket. Besides, I locked my door, so there’s no way he could get in.”

In case you don’t already know, Cow is the name of our cat. When my dad first met our feathered houseguests, he’d said, “Now we have one Cow and three chickens. All we need is a pig and we’ll have a farm!”

Make that one Cow and two chickens, I thought as I looked under my bed, in my closet, behind my beanbag chair, and in every other place I could think of. After about an hour, I started to cry.

“Don’t worry, ’Zona,” said Tex. “We’ll find her.”

Mareya nodded. “After all, chickens don’t just disappear into thin air.”

“But we’ve looked everywhere,” I said, sniffling.

And right at that moment, we heard a peep from Peep.

I smiled. “She’s OK!” “I hear her, but I still don’t see her,” said Tex.

“There she is!” Indi laughed. “In your pile of stuffed animals.”

“But we checked that pile at least five times,” said Mareya.

“You are a silly, sneaky chick!” I said, scooping up the little runaway.

Not long after that day, summer vacation started. Mareya’s mom agreed to let Mareya keep the chickens for good, so I can still visit them all the time. I know they recognize me, because they always run up to say hello. (OK, I admit that might have something to do with the fact that I always bring treats along. Cut-up grapes are their favorite.)

And guess what! In a few months, those chickens will start laying eggs that Mareya’s family can eat for breakfast. That’s something my cat definitely cannot do.

What I’m trying to say, dear Choosing, is that every animal on your list is awesome in its own way. And every pet requires care and attention. Write down everything you know about each animal, then talk to your parents about which one would fit best with your family. You’d be surprised at how lovable an animal without fur can be.

Ciao for now,

Arizona