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  Befrizzle nodded slowly.

  “I bet it’s kind of lonely being the only one up at night,” said Poppy.

  “It is,” explained Befrizzle. “That’s why I was so happy to have company. Even if she was too afraid to come out of the cage.”

  “Um, w-well . . . the thing is, Befrizzle,” stammered Sugar, “that’s just a pile of feathers we made as a decoy. . . .”

  “You tricked Befrizzle?” cried the cousins.

  “Wait, your real name is Befrizzle?” asked Sugar.

  “Of course it is, Booger,” said Befrizzle. “Why would I give you a fake name?”

  Sugar shrugged, embarrassed.

  “I’m sorry, Befrizzle,” said Poppy. “And thank you for being so kind to our . . . decoy chicken.”

  Befrizzle opened the cage door. “Well, she didn’t look like the rest of the chickens and she didn’t act like the rest of the chickens and she was awful quiet, but I knew she was part of the family and I wanted her to feel safe and welcome.” Befrizzle lowered his voice. “Even if she’s not a real chicken, it was still nice to have someone stay up all night with me.”

  “We could take turns staying up all night with you,” said Bailey, Bassie, Bert, and Bodie.

  “You would?” asked Befrizzle. “But why?”

  “Because you’re family,” said the chickens. They gathered for a group hug.

  “Befrizzle,” Dirt said suddenly, “why aren’t you on my alphabetical list of cousins?”

  “I fell asleep,” Befrizzle said shyly. “It happens a lot during the day.”

  Dirt wrote Befrizzle’s name in her notebook list.

  “I have your shoe,” said a voice in the dark.

  “Do not trust piglets in the dark!” cried Sugar. The chicken cousins went awkwardly silent again.

  “Is that you, J. J.?” Dirt called out.

  J. J. sat just at the bottom of the ladder. “I was securing the perimeter when I heard some loud chewing and giggling coming from under the car. I hauled a couple of sugar-happy piglets out of the mud and found two empty jelly bean bags and Poppy’s shoe under there with them. Thought you might need it to sleep.”

  “I can’t believe you trusted piglets under a car.” Befrizzle chuckled. “Don’t you have any farm smarts, Booger?”

  “Booger?” said J. J.

  “I picked it when nobody was around, and it just stuck!” answered Sugar. She regretted saying it immediately.

  Epilogue

  The entire chicken clan and two small pigs waved at us as we pulled out of the long dirt driveway a week later. Just like Moosh had promised, there had been fishing, swimming, a bonfire with marshmallows, and even a hayride sing-along for the whole family from chickens and owls to piglets, and even a few frogs from the pond. Poppy wants to know how soon we can visit again, and Sugar didn’t want to get back in the car when it was time to go. The chicken cousins sleep in shifts now, and Befrizzle has plenty of company.

  The fresh, clean farm air did wonders for me, too. I slept like a baby. The wide-open space had reminded me of my younger days, and during the ride home, I entertained the chicken squad with story after story after— Hang on, Sugar has a question about the perimeter of the backyard at ho— Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

  About the Author and Illustrator

  Doreen Cronin is the author of the Chicken Squad series as well as many bestselling books, including Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho!; Click, Clack, Surprise!; and the Caldecott Honor Book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit her at DoreenCronin.com.

  Stephen Gilpin lives and draws pictures for brilliant children in a cave just north of Hiawatha, Kansas, with his wife, Angie; their kids; and an infestation of dogs.

  Atheneum Books for Young Readers • Simon & Schuster • New York

  chickensquad.com

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Doreen-Cronin/

  www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Stephen-Gilpin

  Also by Doreen Cronin

  Bloom

  Bounce

  The Chicken Squad #1: The First Misadventure

  The Chicken Squad #2: The Case of the Weird Blue Chicken

  The Chicken Squad #3: Into the Wild

  Click, Clack, Boo!

  Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho!

  Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type

  Click, Clack, Peep!

  Click, Clack, Quackity-Quack

  Click, Clack, Splish, Splash

  Click, Clack, Surprise!

  Dooby Dooby Moo

  Duck for President

  Giggle, Giggle, Quack

  M.O.M. (Mom Operating Manual)

  Stretch

  Thump, Quack, Moo

  Wiggle

  ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2017 by Doreen Cronin

  Case illustration (front) copyright © 2017 by Kevin Cornell

  Case (back) and interior illustrations copyright © 2017 by Stephen Gilpin

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  Book design by Sonia Chaghatzbanian

  The text for this book was set in Garth Graphic.

  The illustrations for this book were rendered digitally.

  CIP data for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

  ISBN 978-1-4814-5049-2

  ISBN 978-1-4814-5051-5 (eBook)