Chicken Coop

When I found Granny in the chicken coop where she’d been collecting eggs, she was hunched down in the hay as if looking for pennies at the fair and her hair looked like a poodles, tiny curls that hadn’t been combed out yet. I’d said, “Granny—did you get your hair fixed up?” She didn’t answer. So I just watched her, still and leaning over, wondering if the hay was hurting her knees and that’s when I saw the pieces of eggshells crushed underneath her outspread fingers. The clear coagulated ooze surrounding her hands, yellow streaks in the pools. I came closer to her and patted the curls on her head, still wet, but soft. “It looks professional Granny, like a movie star,” I’d whispered. Nothing. Then Momma opened the little door and squeezed in behind me, “What’re you two doing in here? Tryin’ to lay eggs yourself?” And I knew something was wrong, and I knew my Momma didn’t know yet (by her tone), and all I could say was, “Feel Granny’s hair Momma, it feels like a baby-dolls.” The chickens started up the plank toward the opening that Granny was in front of and Momma started throwing hay at them yelling, “Git, Git, Git,” sounding like chicken Morse code and they must have understood, ‘cause they started flapping their wings and walking backwards with the claws of their feet dangling on the walkway, making a terrible scratching sound.

"Stay back," Greg's putting his arm back like he's swiping at me, trying to keep me from getting ahead of him, like a dog zigzagging in front to keep the lead. I can't see the furniture except the faint outline from before the lights went out, the curve of the sofa, the edge of the curtain, the Happy Birthday sign still hanging along the window. The street lights are still on outside, and I start to wonder if this is some kind of joke. Earlier he'd insisted upon camping outside, but we were having turkey and swiss sandwiches for dinner and I'd told him about how the cheese mixed with the fresh air and eating it outside grossed me out, and all he'd said was: Oh brother, 'cause that's what he always said after I gave a little of myself, Oh brother, as if we were family.

Legal Matters

Val hoped, with the money her and Wendy earned, she’d be able to buy two movies a week. Up at Sound Stairway, previously viewed movies were $5.99 and since her allowance was only $10.00 she’d never bought two in the same week. Trying to save the remaining money so she could buy two the next week was never possible, since the candy shop and the dollar store were in the same building. It wasn’t until Wendy offered the two of them up to her step-father to clean his law office every Thursday after school, that Val could imagine having enough money to do as she pleased.