Page "fiction" Paragraph 959

The ledger was full of most precise information: date of laying, length of incubation period, number of chick reaching the first week, second week, fifth week, weight of hen, size of rooster's wattles and so on, all scrawled out in a hand that looked more Chinese than English, the most jagged and sprawling Alex had ever seen.

Below these particulars was a series of alpha-beta-gammas connected by arrows and crosses which denoted the lineage of the breed.

Alex's instruction was rapid, for the doctor had to go off to the Rue Ecole De Medecine to hear more speeches with only time for one sip of wine to sustain him through them all.

But after the doctor's return that night Alex could see, from the high window in his own room, the now familiar figure crouched on a truly impressive heap of towels, apparently giving its egg-hatching powers one final chance before it was replaced in its office by a sure-enough hen.