From the moment the hen began to incubate, the CHILD waited anxiously. Every day the CHILD looked at the nest where the hen was incubate, even though he knew that it would take 20 days for the eggs to hatch into chicks.
As the child predicted that the eggs would hatch early on the 19th day, the CHILD stood transfixed when a chick poked its head out from the mother hen’s wing and looked at the CHILD with clear eyes…
The 21st day was a special day when the CHILD was allowed to directly pick down the chick from the nest. The CHILD carefully lifted the mother hen out of the nest… then put each chick into a plastic tub… That moment always brought mixed emotions to the CHILD: pity for the mother hen who had to fast so much while incubating that her body felt so light; pride in being the first person the chicks saw and remembered; sympathy for the chicks when they first set foot on the ground and began to explore life; happy to have more innocent, carefree friends to play with…
Decades have passed…now over forty years old…but the CHILD’s emotions are still intact…when I pick down the chickens from the nest…
Gieo Quảng
