She would like that back.
One Mark
On Monday, the egg disappeared before breakfast.
On Tuesday, it disappeared while Henny was drinking water. On Wednesday, she returned to the nest just in time to see the corner of a basket going through the garden gate.
She followed it to the path, where it joined two other baskets of eggs. None had her name on it.
On Thursday morning, Henny borrowed a pencil from the gardener’s table. She made one small mark near the narrower end of her egg, then stood back to inspect it.
It was not a grand mark. It was enough.
She waited behind the rosemary bush, where she could see the nest. Its leaves tickled her beak.
The gardener lifted the egg, placed it in a basket and walked towards the house.
Henny followed.
The Basket
The kitchen door stood open. A kettle hummed on the stove, and the gardener set the basket on the table beside a loaf of bread.
Henny climbed onto the low bench and peered over the edge. Three eggs lay together. She turned the nearest one carefully with her wing.
No mark.
The second had no pencil line. She reached for the third as the gardener returned.
“Looking for something?”
Henny placed one wing on her hip and lifted the egg towards the light. There, near the narrow end, was her small mark.
“That one,” she said.
The gardener looked from the egg to the empty basket. “I was going to move it.”
“You already did.”
A Different Nest
Henny returned the egg to the basket. The gardener carried it into a little room beyond the kitchen. Henny followed, keeping close enough to see it. A shallow box stood by the wall, lined with fresh straw. Another egg rested inside.
“The old shelter roof leaks,” the gardener said. “I’ve been moving the eggs here while I mend it.”
Henny looked at the straw. It was dry and smelled of the afternoon sun. She looked back towards the garden, where her nest sat beneath the sloping roof. Yesterday’s rain had left a dark patch near one corner.
She had noticed it. She had also noticed that nobody had asked her about the move.
The gardener lowered the marked egg into the box beside the other one.
Henny stayed at the doorway.
“Can I come in?” she asked.
“Of course.”
She walked around the box and settled beside the straw, where she could see the window and the door.
The gardener fetched a small dish of water and placed it within reach.
A Place to Watch
Through the window, Henny watched the gardener raise a ladder beside the old shelter. A hammer began its work.
The gardener came back when the kettle whistled.
“Will this do until the roof is ready?”
Henny looked at the box. She could see both eggs. The water was close, and the window gave her a view of the garden gate.
“For today,” she said.
The gardener nodded and left the door open on the way out.
Henny lifted the marked egg once more. The line had become faint where the basket had rubbed against it, but she could still see the end of it.
The gardener paused at the kitchen door. “Are you sure that’s the one?”
Henny raised the egg towards the light.
Her wing covered the mark.
She moved it slightly. “Now?”
The gardener leaned closer. “Now I see it.”
Henny put the egg back beside the other one and settled down where she could watch the window, the door, and both eggs at once.
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