The Debate(drawings by local artist,David Fam)

The Debate By May FAM

The school bus dropped Jeremy at the corner, as usual. He was very excited and rushed in to tell his mother his news. “I need some advice, mum”

“Calm down, tell me about it slowly” replied his mother. “We learned in school that we get eggs from battery hens, and what we were told was not pleasant at all!” said Jeremy.

His mother said, “oh dear, what should we do?”Jeremy jumped up, “we can have our own chickens and collect our own eggs!”“We’ll have a debate tonight after dinner and see what the others have to say,” his mother replied.

At dinner, Jeremy was very quiet, not eating, staring at his plate. “I’ll clear away the dishes, Jeremy learned something very interesting today,” Said his mother.

Jeremy blurted out, “I am going to rear some chickens and collect eggs.” His father said, “Hold on son, slow down, and start from the beginning.”Jeremy sighed, “At school today, our teacher showed us pictures of battery hens, chickens kept in cages, so cruel.”

His father looked at him, puzzled; he could not understand what Jeremy was trying to tell him. Jeremy tried to explain a little bit more, “ The chickens are kept in cages, there’s a bright light on all the time, so there’s no day or night, they just sit there pecking their food and laying their eggs. Some of them cannot even stand up because the cages are so small, mum; it must be so terrible if there’s no day or night.”

Alex, his elder brother retorted, “Is this one of your hare-brained projects? There’s a lot of work involved with keeping chickens, you have to feed them, care for them, and who’s going to clean the poo?” From his sister, Lisa, “Papa, they’ll scratch your flower beds and poo all over the garden!”“Alright children, the debate now is, whether Jeremy wants to start from scratch with baby chicks, three month old chickens or instant layers.” Said his mother.“Let's cut the crap and have instant layers, I’ll have my eggs tomorrow,” from Alex.

Lisa chipped in, “It doesn’t really bother me, and I’m not too fond of eggs.”Jeremy was about to burst into tears, he did not know that something so simple to him, involved so much planning. His father hugged him and said, “Don’t worry too much, sleep on it, we’ll visit your grandma’s farm this weekend and get her opinion”. At the farm, his grandma showed him week old chicks, three month old layers and instant layers.His grandmother said, “Layers start laying from six to seven months old, instant layers will lay tomorrow or next week. Think carefully, the choice is yours, and it’s your project.”


This in an extract from my children's story book, for more, please contact me at
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Copyright© by MayFam 2005.