Cheep! Cheep! I love splashing in the tub. Cluck! Cluck! Every time I want to do something my dear mother keeps letting out an anxious cluck, cluck. Hey, Mom I am just a chick and it's my right  to do the things that come naturally to me like swimming in the tub of water put out in the yard, feeding in the muddy water around it for interesting titbits. Hey Mom I really feel bad that you don't approve but I can't seem to stop myself. Cheep! Cheep! Even my feathers are a different colour from my brothers and sisters. My brother is always making fun of my yellow feathers.Their feathers are interesting browns, grays and whites.

I remember the day I hatched out of my egg . It felt so warm and safe in the shelter of my mother’s feathers and all of us kept pushing to be near her. When mother gave a warning cluck we rushed back to her for safety.

But now I can't seem to do anything right, my mother is calling us to roost, all my brothers and sisters jump up onto the highest perch but I can’t seem to reach even the first rung. I think I shall just go and swim in the tub, that always makes me happy. When I call my brothers to swim with me they make fun of me and run off to scratch in the mud for worms. Mother Hen calls me to join in the fun but I don't seem to get the hang of it, even my feet look different from theirs.

On my first birthday there was a lot of excitement - we had some new birds in the yard. The minute I set eyes on them I knew we would be friends. They looked a lot like me too, they joined me in my tub and splashed around with me. " We have walked miles and miles with no water, it feels so good to swim!, Hey catch me if you can!" She splashed off to the opposite end of the tub. She was quite a  looker, I liked the way the water glistened on her feathers. I had lost my yellow fluff and now had brown feathers which seem to be quite nice too from the looks I was getting from my new friends. " Hey wait for me" I quacked and swam off behind her.

That evening was the happiest of my life- when my mother flew up to her perch with my brothers and sisters, who by now had chicks of their own; I had friends to keep me company in my own corner of the yard by the tub.

As we tucked our beaks under our wings for the night, my friend the rabbit hopped up to me " I am so happy that you finally have your own kind to keep you company, and she is quite a looker and seems to really like you." he nudged me pointing to Her.

Rabbit continued in a more serious tone , "You were the only duck among all those chicken." " You mean I am not a chicken?" I could not help quacking! All my life I had tried to be a good chicken, trying to scratch in the mud, trying to climb up to the roost, when all along I was not even a chicken. " Why did you not tell me ?" My  quack was very sharp. A life time of trying to be something I was not! " They are your family and they are all you knew from birth , I didn’t want you to feel alone in the world" answered the wise Rabbit wiping his long ears with his gray paws, the size of them still amazed me. " Even if the chicken  and duck eggs got mixed up, Mother Hen has given you all the care of a real mother."

The yard lights came on just then and I heard the voice of my mistress. I  always felt happy to hear her voice, she usually spoke to me at feed times, today I think she had come to see how I was getting along with my new friends. "Hey, the poor duck finally has some company, good night ducky enjoy your new friends." DUCKS! Yes I was  a duck. That was why I was so different, I was a duck and not a chicken! In my excitement I fell into the tub with a splash. My new friends thought it was party time  and   jumped into the tub along with me. Oh well, we could enjoy for some more time, till the yard lights went out.