I awoke one morning to a world that had changed over night. Everything was covered in a light, powdery snow; it was so bright that it hurt my eyes. I wanted to go out and explore, but I had to wait to be let out by Dr. Grandillo. When I was finally let out, I jumped down onto the plowed driveway.

The snow was still clean and white. I quickly ran into the tallest drift I could find, but it was deeper than I expected because the snow promptly covered me.

Dr. Grandillo, who was watching me from the house’s doorway, came to my rescue. He set me down on the driveway and lectured me.

“You can get lost in the snow,” he said. “Be careful today.”

I tried to look sorry but all I wanted to do was go play. Dr. Grandillo gave me my breakfast and left for a meeting at WAK. After finishing eating quickly, I took off for the snow again. This time I found a smaller drift, so I dove in, but went too far. I smacked my head on the solid ground and came up with a beak full of snow and a sore noggin. I shook myself off and headed toward the pond, but the pond wasn’t completely frozen yet.

Where might there be ice? I thought. Then I remembered the pond next to the football field. I quickly headed over but I didn’t realize the road was still slippery. As I ran into the road, my feet went sliding until I skidded into the bank on the other side.

Unfortunately, the bank I slid into was deep and I completely disappeared again. Someone must have been watching me because, all of a sudden, two hands reached into the snow bank and wiped the snow away from me.

I really need to remember that it is icy out, I thought.

The student left, but I could see that he was laughing at me. That made me so mad, since I’m sure that I’m not the first to go sliding into a snowdrift on accident. I wanted to go after him but decided that it wasn’t worth it.

Instead of walking, I flew to the pond where I discovered that it was frozen, and also noticed that the woods nearby had many places to explore.

I’m going to have a lot of fun today, I thought. I just need a playmate.

I looked around for someone to play with me and saw something in the football field. After investigating, I discovered that it was a chicken. She was white with black marks. My day had just gotten better. I hope that she wants to hang out, I thought.

“Hello,” I said, feeling shy. “What’s your name?”

“It’s Sam,” she said brightly. “What’s your name?”

“Joe,” I said. “Do you live around here?”

“Yeah, I live nearby and I come to the woods every day,” she said. “Do you live here?”

“Yeah, I’m the President’s rooster.”

“That is so cool. So, are you famous?”

“I’m well known by the students, if that counts.”

“That is so awesome. Want to hang out?”

“Sure,” I said, thinking about how lucky I was to be spending the day with such a pretty chicken. “We should go check out the pond.”

As we headed over, I suddenly said, “Race you!”

We took off, and I was winning until I hit a bump in the ice. I went flying into a snow bank for the third time that day. Sam was laughing at me as I freed myself from the snow.

“Nice landing,” she said.

“It is better than what you could’ve done,” I stammered, feeling embarrassed.

She disagreed, so she tried to do what I had just done. I had to admit that she was more graceful than I was, but I wasn’t going to tell her that.

We spent the rest of the day together in the woods. She headed home as the sun started to set with a promise of coming back tomorrow. I headed home feeling incredibly happy. Tomorrow promised to be another fun-filled day with a chicken that just might become my girlfriend.