Ginger, Rocky, and Charlotte's Web

Chapter 9

The next morning, when the first light came into the sky, the chickens awoke to see Charlotte up overhead in the corner near the back of the pen. 

"That was some good sleep" Nobby yawned, stretching his wings as was feeling refreshed and ready for the day. 

The chickens got up while Rocky looked up towards the corner where Charlotte was at. 

"Are you awake, Charlotte?" He asked. 

"Yes" The spider replied. 

"I hope your night wasn't too hard" Ginger told the spider, knowing how much she had been working on her web. 

But there seemed to be something more as the chickens noticed this little white sac-looking thing next to Charlotte. 

"Hey, what is that nifty little thing?" Ricky pointed out. 

"Did you make it?" Etta asked Charlotte. 

"I did indeed" Charlotte smiled in reply. "This is my egg sac. It's the finest thing I have ever made" 

"Wow..." The chicks said, looking in awe. 

"What's inside it, eggs?" Nobby asked. 

"514 of them" Charlotte replied. 

"You're kidding!" Rocky's eyes suddenly widened. 

"No, I'm not" Charlotte smiled. "I counted them" 

"Congratulations, Charlotte!" Ginger smiled, being happy for her spider friend that she was going to become a mother. 

"Are you really going to have 514 children?!" The chicks asked Charlotte excitedly. 

"If nothing happens, yes" Charlotte replied but sounded bittersweet. "Of course, they won't show up until next spring" 

"What makes you sound so downhearted?" Rocky then questioned the spider, tilting his head. 

"Yeah, we should think you'd be terribly happy" Nobby added. 

"Oh, don't pay any attention to me, my friends" Charlotte told the chickens. "I just don't have any pep anymore" 

"What are you talking about?" Nobby and the chicks asked the spider curiously. 

"Well, I'm slowing up. It may be that..." Charlotte hesitate to continue for a moment. "Oh, I don't want you all to worry about me. You should all be excited, this is Wilbur's big day after all" She told them.

"But Charlotte..." The chickens frowned towards the spider. 

But just then, Wilbur started to wake up and soon came over to the flightless birds. 

"What's going on?" The pig asked his companions. 

"Oh, nothing important right now, Wilbur..." Ginger replied, wanting to save Charlotte's big surprise for later. 

Wilbur then looked towards Charlotte and smiled. "Good morning, Charlotte" 

Charlotte smiled back at her friend. "Good morning, Wilbur"

"So, did you decide on which word to use?" Wilbur asked the spider curiously. 

"Why don't you see for yourself" Charlotte replied. 

The pig and chickens then looked up towards Charlotte's web to see a new word had been written into it. 

"It was a challenge, but I'd say we finally found a decent word" Ginger replied. "I especially like this one" 

"So what do you think?" Charlotte asked Wilbur. 

"It's a great word" Wilbur replied, before hesitating. "It's just..."