Easter Parade at the Clubhouse

Excitement was building. What was quite possibly our biggest event ever scheduled to take place at our Chicken Coop Clubhouse was fast approaching. My cousin and I had spent every spare minute we had getting ready;scrubbing and picking up the Club; practicing and then practicing some more; getting all the little ones prepared to perform the way we expected or at least march in a straight line for a few minutes. This would be our first of what we

hoped would be many more Easter Parades-a new event added to our list which included carnivals, circuses, art exhibits, plays, and Halloween spook houses-and others without official titles. How lucky were all the adults to have so many wonderful happenings to attend! We took pride in being such an active Club.

Hours were spent making decorations from construction paper. Perfect Easter eggs were easy when you folded the paper in half and finished the job with crayons. Decorated strips of paper glued together made simple Easter baskets. Our bulletin board was especially attractive with oodles of paper eggs and paper bunnies and chicks. We'd been to the store. We bought lots of Easter candy. No Easter parade was complete without candy. The front yard-eventually hay that in a few months we'd stomp down with our feet-would be where the audience would sit on whatever we could find in the barn. Sometimes that meant a cinder block at either end of a board.

The last rehersal had been a success. Our parade was to be Saturday. Easter was always busy enough out in the country with four houses full of relatives. We'd start marching up the path that was between the Clubhouse and farmhouse. I wouldn't join them. I was in charge of the window. This was where all the action would be; announcing the goings on; selling the candy. Once we removed the chicken wire and put out our cardboard sign which we'd spent what seemed hours designing, the First Annual Chicken Coop Clubhouse Easter Parade would be underway. All our work was just about to pay off.

Well it never happened. We awoke to an all-day spring downpour. I met my cousin at the clubhouse only to find melted marshmallow chicks distorted so badly that they were just sticky blobs. Jelly beans were inseparable. Chocolate eggs were chocolate soup. Since most of the windows were without glass, paper decorations were destroyed as was that window sign we'd labored over.

We were certain all the adults were as disappointed as we were. We told them not to worry. We'd get to work on a new event just as soon as we could pick up the sticky chicks and lopsided bunnies.

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