November 27. “Button, shall we put together our third story about MoJo and her chicken friend?”

“Sure. You go first.”

MOJO AND HER CHICKEN FRIEND

She was all of three weeks when she came to live with our family. Our friendly neighbour dropped her off in a pretty cane basket tied with pink ribbon. She looked like a bundle of white fur and the family fell in love with her instantly.

The first thing she did was head straight for the kitchen. Was it coincidental or was she hungry, we wondered! B

My elder daughter gave her some milk which was lapped up in a matter of seconds. What should we call her? Should we give her a name beginning with the alphabet M like we’d done for all our four-legged family members or should we just give her a name starting with any alphabet?

Break away from the much-beaten track and call her Apple or Mint or maybe MoJo, was what the family suggested!  Or even Mishti.B

What does MoJo mean? Asked the youngest family member.

I think it means sexy or attractive, was what someone suggested. B

Let’s call her MoJo so there is no possibility of hacking the name any shorter.

MoJo’s first day passed quickly and without much hassle except for the fact that she needed toilet training which, like we’d done with all our other pets, would be done gradually. She was much too young to be toilet trained. B

The second day passed and a third and fourth and, soon enough, MoJo had been with the family for a week. She ate, played with Rani, teased Mowgli and slept for long hours.

Since all the toys we had bought for Mowgli had aged and turned sticky, we decided to drop in at the pet shop and buy some toys for Mojo. B

After browsing through almost all the toys available, our search narrowed down to a small squeaky ball, one that MoJo could hold in her mouth, a rubber ring—very similar to the one Mowgli loved tugging with someone tugging the other end—and again, a squeaky chicken, small enough for MoJo to grab.

We returned home with our purchase and gave the toys to MoJo, throwing the ball at her gently to see if we could get her interested. She didn’t seem interested in the ball but picked up the chicken in her mouth. B

As soon as she heard the first squeak, she jumped up, dropped the chicken and moved away.

“May we continue with the story tomorrow please? I feel sleepy?”

“Certainly.”