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News Flash! Baby chick just hatched!

Shell: This is Shell, here, with a live report from Uncle Clay’s barn, where a serama chick has just hatched from its egg!  Yes, you heard correctly, folks.  We have five eggs in an incubator–

Santa: My incubator! I raised the money for it —

Shell:  Santa’s incubator.  Right.  And our serama eggs. Five of them–

Annie: They’re so cute–

Santa:   The eggs, Annie?  Or the chicks. Be specific.  We’re on the internet here!

Annie (hands clasped): Both–!

Shell:  Anyway, seramas are the smallest of bantam chickens —

Santa: –bantams are small chickens —

Shell: — and we collected some eggs from our breeding pair–

Annie:  –And stuck them in the incubator, such a cute, warm, humid place —

Santa: We put them in the incubator 19 days ago.  Now they’re hatching.  Right on schedule.

Shell:  Anyway, the first one hatched, and has tons of energy.

Annie:  — It flopped around —

Shell: –And now the peck area of another egg is turning into a line–

Annie: — the chicks just peck a line all the way around the egg to get out of one end, kind of like a zipper —

Santa: No, it’s not.

Shell: Anyway, it’s all really exciting, and we’ll get back to you with videos and pictures.  Stay tuned! Shell, signing off!

Santa:  Is that “egg”-Shell?  Ha ha!

Shell: Out!

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Superheroes In Seattle!

Santa:  Wow,  Shell, look at this!

Shell:  What, what?  You sound pretty excited.

Santa:  I am!  You’ll be too.  Get this.  So, here, Jane’s been working on this book —

Shell: —Because Of The Red Fox.  Yeah, yeah, you’d think that maybe we’d know something about it!

Annie: –because we’re the main characters!

Santa: Right, right.  But here’s the strange thing.  While Jane’s been writing this book–

Shell: –for a really long time–

Santa (ignoring the interruption):–she’s been finding that some of it has been coming true.

Annie:  Of course the story’s true!

Santa:  Coming true, I said!  And this is one big way that it’s coming true.  You know how Uncle Paul is a superhero–

Annie: Sshh!  We need to keep that a secret!

Santa: –and all the others, Ancestor Man, Otter Woman, and the rest of the folks who showed up at the Ordered Council–

Shell (impatient): Yes, yes–Animal Force.

Santa: Well, here’s the deal.  There really are superheroes now in Seattle, fighting crime.  They’re part of the Rain City Superhero Movement, and you can read all about them right here:

Phoenix Jones and the Rain City Superhero Movement

Shell: Wow!

Annie: See?  We are real!

Santa: That’s rather a leap–

Shell: –in a single bound!

Santa:  Let’s not jump to conclusions!

Shell: Why not?  The alternative isn’t very attractive.

Annie:  Wh-what alternative?

Shell: That we’re figments of someone’s imagination.

Santa, Annie, and Shell: Naaahhhh!

Santa (sagely):  After all, life is just one big storybook anyway, right?

Shell:  Very wise, oh older cousin.

Santa: Right! …. Hey, are you making fun of me?

Shell: Moi???   By the way, have I shown you myself as a superhero?  Myself when I’m a bit older anyway.     I created it at Hero Machine.   Here it is:

Veriditas

Santa: Pretty fancy, Shell. But what kind of superhero name is “Veriditas”?

Shell: You know, a weird one!

Annie: I wonder what kind of superhero I’d be?  Can superheroes just serve tea?

Shell: I’m sure you can be any kind of superhero you want.  Serving cups of Peace tea sounds like the perfect way for you to combat crime!

Santa (choking): Mnrf, snort!

Shell: I’m serious!

Santa (recovering):  Anyway — that’s all I had to share for this week.  By for now, everyone!

Shell and Annie: Bye!

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From Annie: Gleep!

‘Tis me, Annie. Omigosh, here it is Saturday, and no Leaf! Jane wants me to tell you that the next installment will be up sometime this weekend.

Jane had a birthday a couple of days ago. Her family celebrated with sushi and roses. … oh, Santa’s yelling at me about something. I do too make sense!

Anyway, I think the Leaf is late because Jane has been having a birthday! And anyway, do check back by Sunday. She’ll have some good stuff up. I think!