Honorable Mention - Megan Cox
Age 13
Bedford, IN 

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I love my pets, but I especially love my chickens, like Ruby in Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles. Ruby's chickens, Ivy, Bemmie, and Bess, are just like my chickens. Ruby and her grandmother, Miss Eula, stole the chickens from a slaughterhouse on their way to be butchered. So, Ruby, like me, loves her chickens very much.

I really don't know why I love my chickens. They're messy and take a lot of time, but I still really love them and I feel attached to them. I have 19 chickens, but I've only named a few, because many of them look exactly alike. I've named a yellow hen, Granny, a white hen, Ivy, two Barred Rock roosters, Abraham and Isaac, and a Rhode Island Red rooster, Rusty.

Granny and Ivy are special to me because they were a surprise! My dad and I were at an Amish auction house and they were in a tightly sealed cardboard box that read "four hens". My father went ahead and bought them for me. When we claimed our newly-bought prize, we were totally surprised. All the hens in the box were really old! I was slightly disappointed, but my uncle joked about it, and called one of the older yellow hens "old granny." I picked up on the name, because it fit her well.

Ivy's name wasn't an accident like Granny's name was. I just thought of Ruby's chickens in Love, Ruby Lavender, and I thought Ivy sounded like a fantastic name for my white hen. Finding Ivy's name was a slight relief, since I'd been struggling to find her a name since the day I bought her.

Abraham and Isaac, the two little Barred Rock roosters, had their names come about kind of like Granny's name. At my birthday party this spring, one of my guy friends was helping me put away the chickens, and he called the fastest little rascal "Abraham." I have absolutely no clue why he picked that name, it really puzzles me. Well, anyway the name stuck. And one day, when one of my friends asked me the name of his twin brother, I blurted out "Isaac." So, like the two Bible characters, Abraham and Isaac, I have two chickens named Abraham and Isaac (even though the Abraham and Isaac in the Bible were father and son, and my chickens are brothers).

Last of all, I love Rusty, my Rhode Island Red rooster. I raised Rusty from a small chick last spring. He was never compatible. As a chick, he would always bite my ankles when I wouldn't let him go run free outside. He was a very fast runner. He often scared me to death, when he would hide in the bushes. I would think that a neighbor's dog had eaten him. Now he's a big rooster, and he struts and fights, but deep inside, I still love him. How couldn't I?

Having chickens has really taught me to be strong and stand up for myself. That sounds a little weird, but it really isn't if you understand why. I quit eating chicken a few years ago, after a traumatic event, and once people found out, all they could do was make fun of me. I get the comments, "Mmmm...chicken," and "I had fried chicken for dinner," a lot. At first, I was really sensitive, and I cried a lot, but now I'm stronger. I even hear my mom make comments on the subject sometimes, about me being stronger and less sensitive now.

Even though pets can be messy, a lot of trouble, and sometimes just a pain in the neck, they really are a lot of fun, and I love my pets. My pets are always there, and I can spend time with them. It's really nice to have pets around when you're down, bummed out, or happy. You can share your emotions with them, and they'll listen. I have many memories with my pets, more than any other thing. I really love my pets.