Inspire

A freckled egg

Chantel sat on the porch of her grandparents' cottage on a farm. She visits her aging grandparents every summer and her favorite thing to do on the farm is to garner the eggs from the chicken coup every morning. Chantel inhaled the fresh country air and stood up, soothed her skirt and skipped to the coup while mumbling, "today is another perfect day for adventures." Chantel leaped over the fence and dodged the clucking chickens swarming beside her ankles. She dove into the coup and picked up 5 eggs. The shells all gleamed under the sunlight, seeming smooth and pale. One little egg, on the other hand, had a spot on it. Chantel went back into the kitchen and set the basket of eggs on the table. As a curious soul, Chantel plucked the spotted egg from the basket and studied it meticulously. Her grandfather pushed a wheelchair with her grandmother rested on it to the table. Chantel excitedly rushed in front of her grandmother and sat down. "Look, gran. This egg's got a cute little freckle. Like yours. Maybe the egg symbolizes you!" Her grandmother chuckled and gently ruffled Chantel's ginger hair. "Fiddlesticks. I have a whole sagging face of freckles while this egg's only got one." After speaking, grandmother began coughing violently, threatening to tumble out of the wheelchair. "Besides, eggs represent new life. Endless possibilities and wonders awaiting to be discovered. Look at me, old and tired. Not much life left in me." Grandmother's hazel eyes seemed dazed and full of peace under the beams of sunshine. Grandfather tried to alleviate the somberness by kissing Chantel's single freckle on her cheek and saying "Chantel, I think this egg is more like you, young, robust, and dotted with one exquisite freckle." Chantel gazed at her grandparents, while caressing the spot where her grandfather just kissed. All of a sudden, memories of her giggling and basking under the sunlight with her grandparents flowed through her mind. "Chantel? What would you want to eat now? Scrambled eggs? Boiled eggs?" Her grandfather's personable voice shook her out of her reminiscence. "Boiled eggs would do." Came Chantel's simple reply. She looked at her weary grandparents. Wispy white hair, sagging, sallow skin. Sunken sockets with the gentlest and kindest of eyes. Chantel felt her eyes moisten and a lump rising in her throat, she quickly turned from her grandmother and rushed to the kitchen to help her grandfather, not wanting to show any sign of pessimism.

Day by day, the freckles on grandmother's face diminished, and the single-spotted egg's freckles increased. Until one peaceful morning, all the freckles were drained out of grandmother's face, only one lonely dot remained, obstinate and not willing to budge. Grandmother had left the world. Silently, but satisfied. Chantel trailed to the kitchen and kissed the heavily freckled egg. " At least you're now an egg, gran. A symbol of new life and wonders ahead of you. You're not gone. You'll always be here with me, experiencing the most effervescent and most marvellous journeys with me."

A/N: This story is a task in our extra curricular activity at school. We had to write a story on this pic: