Chook Chook Read Online Free PDF

the city . . . at . . . the . . . the . . . university.’ My words came out all muffled as I started to cry.
    I heard a whisper from the edge of the crowd. ‘An orphan, tsk tsk. They’re going to send her away.’
    Send me away?
    There were more murmurs. ‘An orphan thief.’
    What was I going to do?
    The other guard came towards us, my hen still tucked under his arm. His uniform had a few extra pins on it to show that he was the head guard. He held out a few scarves, rings and jewels to the woman. ‘Excuse me, ma’am. Is all this stuff yours?’
    The woman narrowed her eyes and pulled her coat tightly around her. ‘Why of course it is. My husband bought those for me from Shanghai last week.’ She reached out to take the precious items from him, but the guard pulled his hand away. Then I saw it.
    Sunlight glinted off the stones in the rings, making them glisten and sparkle so much that you almost missed the tiny white price tags that were dangling from very fine threads.
    I looked down at the dainty scarf that was still draped around Lo’s body. And sure enough, there was a tag on it too. I could see the name of the store written on it: ‘Guangzhou Station Finery’ .
    â€˜Thief! Thief!’ a woman’s voice called out. A young shopkeeper pushed her way through the pack. She went right up to the woman in the fur coat and pointed. ‘Arrest her! She’s the thief!’
    More clamouring erupted from the crowd. The guard let go of my arm with a gruff grunt and reached for the woman in the coat.
    â€˜No, let go of me!’ She struggled, but he kept an iron hold on her.
    â€˜Don’t you dare!’ The shopkeeper was shouting in the woman’s face. ‘You’ve been stealing from my store for months.’ She turned to the guards. ‘She’s always dressed in that fur coat and picking out things, saying that they’ll be gifts from her husband. But when one of my girls goes to ring them up, she stashes everything into her coat and she’s gone!’
    â€˜She’s lying, I swear,’ the woman pleaded, but the guard was already taking out his handcuffs and fastening them around her wrists.
    â€˜Alright, move along,’ he shouted to the crowd. ‘Nothing to see here.’ People were chattering to each other noisily as they started to move on.
    The head guard still had Little in his arms. She clucked quietly as he carefully removed the string of pearls from around her neck. Finally free, she beat her wings in appreciation. Without a word, I rushed over to take her from him.
    â€˜Excuse me, officer,’ the old woman said as she hobbled over. ‘Surely the girl is free to go now?’
    The head guard looked at me hugging Little and Lo, and then back at the old woman. ‘Young children cannot be running around the station unsupervised,’ he said. ‘And chickens, chickens are definitely not allowed on the trains.’
    The old woman bobbed up and down on her bamboo cane. ‘Yes, yes, you’re absolutely right. But she’s just on her way to the university to visit her brother,’ she explained. ‘It’s just a few stops on line 3.’
    I pointed to my box, which we had left by the map on the other side of the station. ‘We’ll keep the chooks in that box and they’ll go to sleep. You won’t even know they’re here.’
    The shopkeeper and the lady in the coat were shouting at each other again and the other guard was trying to keep them apart. The head guard looked back at them wearily. He made up his mind. ‘You can go, but ma’am, I’m leaving this girl and her chickens in your care.’ The old woman nodded and I smiled gratefully, clutching my chooks in my arms. The guard dipped his hat to us before going over to march the thief and the shopkeeper to the station office.
    Little and Lo were calm now after all the excitement. They settled into their