"Brr! It's cold out there!"
Olivia said as she walked into the kitchen.
"Who's ready to skate?"
"Guess who's not going with us," Katie said, frowning.
Olivia looked at the twins. "Joy? Why not?"
"I finally chose my leader.
So I need to work on my project.
Our presentations are only two days away!" said Joy.
Olivia nodded. "I understand," she said.
"You do?" asked Katie.
"Yes. Want us to help you?" Olivia asked Joy.
"Us?" Katie repeated.
Joy ignored her sister's comment and smiled at her friend.
"I can do the leader project by myself.
But I could use help solving the chicken mystery."
Harriet Tubman, she thought, would never ignore her pet chickens when they needed help.
"Count me in," said Olivia.
"Count me out," said Katie. "Those aren't my chickens."
"Would anyone like some hot cocoa?" Mom asked.
"Yes, please!" all three girls answered.
Olivia turned to Katie.
"Ms. Barrow told us we had to act like our leaders.
Would Abraham Lincoln go skating, while his friend—no, his sister—needed help?"
Katie sighed. "Probably not," she admitted.
"What do you need us to do, Joy?"
An hour later the girls were standing in front of the chicken coop.
Joy counted the chickens again.
"Oh no!" She gasped. "Now four are missing!"
Joy felt like crying.
But she knew a leader had to take charge.
"Someone needs to look for them," she said.
"Someone else needs to find how they are getting out.
And the third person needs to keep an eye on the two in here.
So they don't escape too!"
"I'll look for the chickens," Olivia offered.
"I'll check the coop for any holes," said Katie.
"Great, let's get to work!"
Joy broke the ice on the chickens' water feeder.
Then she refilled the chickens' food container.
A few minutes later, Olivia called, "Hey! Over here! I found something."
She was waving from underneath the tree house.
The twins ran over.
Olivia was standing near a pile of leaves and hay.
That was Grandpa's burn pile.
He hadn't burned anything since the day he got in trouble with the fire chief.
"It looks like some chickens have been using this as a nest."
Olivia pointed to six brown eggs lying on top of the pile.
They were almost the same color as the leaves.
"Wow," Joy said.
"That's why there were so few eggs lately."
"Why did they do that?" Katie asked.
Joy shrugged. "I don't know.
Maybe once they got out, they just looked for a soft place to lay their eggs."
"Now if we can just find the chickens . . . ," Olivia began.
"I know!" Katie cried. "Let's go in the tree house.
It's a great lookout spot!"
The girls scrambled up the tree house steps.
"Katie, you're a genius!
I see them!" Olivia cried.
She pointed to four chickens waddling around by the creek.
"Mission accomplished," Joy said after Olivia tossed the last chicken back into the coop.
"And I think I just discovered how they're getting out," Katie added.
She stuck her hand through a gap in the fence.
"The chicken wire here isn't attached to the post anymore."
"I'll ask Mom if I can use Dad's tools," Joy said.
"I can fix it before Grandpa gets back!"
"It will be just in time too," Olivia said, looking up.
Dark gray clouds were rolling over them.
"It looks like it's about to storm.
And it feels cold enough to snow!"