Chapter 4

Ever since Lillia gave Popuri her blessing to travel to Forget-Me-Not Valley, Popuri makes regular weekly visits to Takakura and Jill’s farm. Takakura may be old, but he is the most knowledgeable person around who is perfect for training young people. Popuri takes a notebook and writes down all the lessons Takakura has to give. She then goes home and practices what she learned in her family’s chicken ranch.

The first lesson Takakura covers in the chicken and rooster biology. Knowing and understanding the difference between a chicken and a hen is crucial for Popuri's career. Knowing a rooster's role, and why it crows in the morning is also an important lesson. Learning about these topics helps Popuri understand why she was not doing so well at her family's business.

Popuri is impressed at how much she has learned with only one lesson. She takes down notes so she can study at home. Takakura understands Popuri's unique situation, so he explains everything in a way that she can understand easily. This makes Popuri confident that she can be the chicken rancher her family needs. But Takakura warns her that she still has a lot to learn about the world of poultry. 

Popuri's second lesson involves bird psychology. Chickens, hens, ducks, and roosters are very intelligent creatures. Takakura teaches that birds can be almost as intelligent as dogs. Bonding with them can be similar in a way. Chickens love to be picked up, but never while sleeping or sitting on their eggs. Chickens need to be picked up carefully, since bird bones are not as dense as other animals.  

With this knowledge, Popuri tries to pick up and bond with the birds in her family's ranch. It isn't easy at first, the birds at the ranch care and trust Rick, but not Popuri so much. Popuri tries her best to bond with the birds by feeding them, but they are usually full after Rick's daily feeding.

As sad as it makes Popuri feel, she doesn't give up and continues her lessons. The next lesson explain the proper use of the incubator machine. using the ones in Jill's ranch, Takakura explains that the incubator is used to hatch eggs to make chicks. Jill is happy to demonstrate how it works. Popuri takes detailed notes in case she needs to use one in the future. 

The following week, Takakura explains the proper care and maintenance of the nest used by the birds. Using this knowledge, she takes the initiative to help around her family's ranch. She remembers that Rick's least favorite chore is cleaning the nests. So every morning while she is at home, Popuri wakes up earlier than Rick so she can rush over to the coop and clean the nests while the birds are digging for worms.

Rick wants to say something to Popuri, but he finds that the nests are well cleaned. It becomes something he no longer has to do, as long as the chickens are happy. So he ignores it and allows Popuri to do as she pleases. He does take the extra time saved to spend with his fiance Karen.

Popuri continues to help out day by day. One morning as she is cleaning out a nest, she finds that one of her favorite birds has laid four fertilized eggs. Normally, she would leave eggs alone and allow Rick to ship them for a profit. But looking into her notebook and then looking at the incubator, she hatches another plan for them.

Popuri steals the eggs, and plants them in an unused incubator to hatch. Rick does notice the empty nest and the occupied incubator he doesn't remember filling. He has no idea that Popuri knows how to operate an incubator now. So he just shrugs it off as if he filled it himself and forgot all about it. After all, his mind is very busy with more important things with all the wedding plans.

Popuri spends her days watching the incubator day by day. After cleaning the nests, she rushes over to the incubator and spends hours watching the eggs she placed. Day after day, nothing happens. She checks the settings to make sure the temperature and pressure are perfect for hatching eggs. Takakura warns that it takes time for eggs to hatch, so she must be patient.

 The next Sunday, Rick and Karen get married at the Mineral Town church. Popuri decides to attend the wedding, despite her feelings about her brother getting married. She does get along well with Karen, but she doesn't tell her about lessons in Forget-Me-Not Valley. Popuri trusts Karen, but her tongue may accidentally slip to her new husband. One thing Popuri would like to avoid.

 After the wedding, Popuri decides to check on her eggs. She gasps happily when she notices that one of them have started to shake and move. The other eggs follow soon after. She smiles brightly as soon as the first egg's shell begins to break and a tiny beak sticks out. Her heart melts as the chicks break out of their shells one by one. They peep sharply, confused and getting used to the world that they have been brought into.

Remembering what Takakura has taught her about newborn chicks, she rushes them into an empty nest. She then runs to the dock to buy some worms and uses them to make some chick food. Carefully, she feed her little babies one by one. In just a moment's time, she has found herself with a lot of responsibility.

Rick does notice Popuri care for the chicks, but he does nothing about it. As long as Popuri is caring for the new chicks, he can work peacefully with the others. Popuri does get very overprotective of her chicks, not allowing Rick to work on them. Rick mentions his concerns to his mother, but Lillia doesn't mind Popuri helping out as long as she doesn't hurt any birds. 

Even though Lillia allows Popuri to work on the chicks, she still decides to watch her. From inside her house, Lillia stares at Popuri bonding with the four chicks. In the morning, Popuri bursts out of the coop, and the chicks follow her out. The chicks believe that Popuri is their mother, and they rely on her to teach them how to be chickens. Popuri has a lot of fun pretending to be a mother chicken, and teaching the four chicks to someday be adult chickens. Lillia is pleased that her only daughter is happy. But she can only wonder how long that happiness will last. Popuri learned a lot from Takakura about how to care for poultry, but she is not yet aware of what her family's ranch does to newer birds.

Popuri names her chicks after the four seasons. The first hatched is Spring, and is the leader of the four sisters. The largest chick is named Summer, and is the most active of the bunch. The most attractive chick is named Autumn, which represents the beauty of Fall. And the laziest chick is named Winter who has a very laid back personality.

On the first day of summer, Popuri checks out the overall health of her chicks. She finds that Spring has already started molting, and white feathers are beginning to sprout. Her chicks are starting to mature, and they will become strong and healthy chickens in only a few more weeks.

Week after week, Lillia watches her daughter care for her four feathery children. She is happy that Popuri is happy, but she has yet to tell her about the ranch’s little secret. But once she notices that the chicks have matured into chickens, she finds herself without a choice but to tell her. After all, Popuri has grown attached to them.

One summer morning while Rick is busy with the other chickens and hens, Lillia calls her daughter into the house so they can have a serious talk. As much as it will hurt Popuri, she must tell her.

"What!? You have to sell my chickens!?" cried Popuri.

Lillia sighs, "I'm sorry sweety, but we don't have a choice."

Popuri's eyes fill with tears and continues, "that's not fair! Why does my chickens have to be sold!? We have plenty of other birds we can sell!"

Lillia shakes her head no, then explains, "the birds in the coop are only bred to lay eggs. All their chicks have to be sold to pay bills. Eggs don't make enough money for us to live off by themselves. We must sell new chickens to make ends meet."

Popuri gasps at the news. Not once did she consider where the other birds went over time, she was only focused on her own. She nods her head down and pleads, "But. . . Can't my chickens be egg layers too?"

"Our coop is full, and we can't afford to keep anymore chickens."

"But. . ." 

Lillia sighs and says, "remember Popuri. Even though you have been caring for those chickens since they hatched, the truth is that they belong to the ranch, not you. Unless you can afford to buy more land and expand our coop, we have to sell them."

Popuri can no longer argue with her mother anymore. Lillia is right, the ranch is a business not an orphanage for birds. Popuri has always loved the birds, but never questioned where they go when they vanish every now and then. 

Popuri can no longer hold her grief. She covers her face, and drops to the floor crying. Lillia tries to comfort her, but it was pointless. 

"Where? . . . Where are they going to end up mom?" Popuri asks sobbing on the floor.

Lillia cannot lie to Popuri, "most of the birds we sell end up at a slaughterhouse."

Popuri quickly gets up, and runs off to her room to continue crying. Lillia feels bad for doing what she had to. But this is the main reason she never made her husband teach Popuri about ranching as well. Popuri holds a strong love for birds. Lillia knows that Popuri will not be able to handle the burden of selling chickens. Rick knows and understands that responsibility.