By Mark S. Price Contributing columnist

When a flock of chickens waddled by one after the other clucking as they went, I thought for sure that I had drifted off to dreamland during my mid-morning nap at Ellsworth Elementary School.

However, this kindergartner and my favorite pal Johnny Puskarich were whispering as we faced each other while laying on our foam-filled plastic mats in the dimly lit room.

This dynamic duo, laying prostrate with our chins setting atop crossed arms, kept looking up to make sure the teacher Mrs. Irene Cole nor Miss April Farkas, the student teacher, noticed our mischief making during quiet time.

All of the sudden, these youngsters’ fellow classmate and chum Larry Kotchman, who was sprawled out on the floor two mats away, garnered our attention.

“Psst,” exclaimed the Cokeburg native propped up on his arm as he pointed his finger over our heads giggling silently. “Look on the other side of youns.”

Thinking we were busted by the teacher, these whippersnappers eyes grew wide while quickly lowering our heads before having a look-see for ourselves.

While slowly rotating our necks, we watched as a line of chickens marched between the other students, who were lying haphazardly on their collapsible pads, headed straight toward us.

With both our jaws dropping open, these best buddies looked back at the boy with slicked-back brown hair and covered our mouths with small hands to contain the giggles fighting to get out.

As our fine feathered friends drew closer to this trio, we were no longer able to contain ourselves. All three of us rolled onto our backs convulsing with laughter as the domesticated fowls noisily toddled by.

When Joanna Nye opened her eyes with one of the two-legged creatures clucking in her face, she squealed loudly sending the birds in all directions as they wildly flapped around the room.

“Someone forgot to close the door to the hen house,” Larry yelled out from across the room. “The chickens are all over the place.”

While our stout teacher stood from her desk, the college senior hurriedly turned on the lights as the other students stood up from the floor and began chasing the chickens around the room.

For the next few minutes, chaos prevailed until the last egg laying hen was safely put back into the chicken coop, located in the back corner near the toy storage bins.

The week after Easter, Mrs. Cole’s kindergarten classroom was turned into a makeshift barn of sorts during a week-long study in which we learned all about life on the farm.

Mr. Nathaniel Richards, local farmer and father of classmate Eddie Richards, was kind enough to construct a real live hen house during the previous weekend so we could experience the feathered beasts firsthand.

Every morning our teacher selected two students to go into the coop and collect the eggs from the nesting boxes. It was our favorite of all the many responsibilities dealing with the temporary class pets.

At the end of class each day, Eddie safely packed the fragile objects into a special container for protection before taking them home to the farm.

As soon as the chickens were securely in their pen, Mrs. Cole called all these young scholars over to the hay bales, which had been set up in a circle on the other side of the room.

After we all took our seats on the hay bales, the seasoned educator led us in a rousing rendition of “Old McDonald had a Farm” before reading the Little Golden Book “A Day on the Farm.”

As the instructor with a bouffant hairdo finished our favorite story, Mrs. Elaine Richards came through the door with a special visitor.

Eddie climbed over a bale of hay to greet his mother as she entered the classroom with a bundle of joy in her arms.

The blond-haired lad was excited to show the other students who was wrapped up inside the blanket.

When his mother carefully handed her five-year-old the baby, the kindergartner brought it over to where the rest of us were seated.

Before the farmer’s son could lift the blanket to reveal his special surprise, a faint squeal could be heard from under the woolen material.

It was a little three-month-old pink piglet just waking up from a morning nap. All the other kids gathered around to have a closer look at their classmate’s four-legged pet named “Pork Chop.”

Once the other students sat back down in the circle, we asked a hundred and one questions while the baby pig ran around snorting excitedly nudging against the legs of the boys and girls, who were furiously fawning over the cute little bugger.

Eddie handed a small bright blue rubber ball to his classmates as we each took turns tossing it to the small farm animal while erupting much laughter at the piglet’s silly antics.

Following another ten minutes of rambunctious play with the piglet and the bouncy ball, these students euphoria came to an end when Eddie’s mother picked up our new friend and made a quick exit.

Not long after my class said our goodbyes to the cute little ham hock, a photographer from the Bentleyville Courier made his appearance to take our snapshot for the local newspaper.

While these youngsters had been preoccupied by the four-legged visitor, the student teacher was on the other side of the room getting set up for the photograph.

Several of the students, including yours truly, brought in our Fisher-Price barns and accessories for the project which were strategically placed atop our usual reading table.

After the newspaper photographer took several snapshots of my kindergarten class, he acquired the names of all the students before leaving the room.

“See you in the funny papers,” stated the tall man with the camera as he waved goodbye and made his exit.

Mark S. Price is a former city government/county education reporter for The Sampson Independent. He currently resides in Clinton.

Call: T: 910-592-8137 F: 910-592-8756 Address: 109 W. Main St. Clinton, NC 28328