Sun Kissed Whatever...
Months had passed since Jaqueline sat on the stump near the old well and told Felecia the awful tale in total. Felecia tried offering more familial condolences and found herself rebuked for the effort. She tried minding the cave hovel more and was equally turned away from helping while being reminded that she wasn’t as needed as she imagined she was. For a time there really were no more lessons, no more offerings of books to cipher or old recipes to study.
The sleep agent, the rest it all as Jacqueline had called it as she taught Felecia the formula before was put to the test and Felecia managed to murder an entire small test bed of large earthworms and once healthy moss and fungi. That set back was almost immediately followed by the old hen at the meadow finally finding her courage.
That trip to the meadow wasn’t the first since the revelation at the well or even the second or the fifth, months had melted away and winter had given way to spring and nearly into unbearable summer as they quick marched to the northern beach to make Jacqueline’s hasty offerings to the unspeakable thing that wallowed among the tides before they found themselves doing the usual maintenance of the nearly wild animals that kept themselves in line around the rough corral.
The goats all stood gruff and expectant while Jacqueline fed and groomed them but the chickens were sullenly observant as they let Felecia feed them and take their eggs with barely a cluck or a peck. Chief among the hens was Nelly, the old nervous bird stood at the outset of a mound of delicious hand-picked caterpillars and dandelion heads, circling Felecia as she collected the eggs. The bird didn’t touch her meal, or take the water that was poured out into the shallow metal pan for all to drink. Nervous Nelly kept at the edge line of the food offered her and kept her weary eyes on Felecia until everything was packed and she and Jacqueline were ready to leave. The nervous little bird did her careful dance of following expectedly in Felecia’s footsteps through the path they had trampled into the meadow to reach the corral and the old empty house it always seemed to cling to.
Again, the old hen began to faulter and cluck and call after Jacqueline and Felecia as they neared the dark woods. Again, she did her dance of familiar despair between the place she had always known and following the infrequent suppliers of badly needed water and extra sustenance. What was knew became the hens long, loud calls. The small animal seemed to call and crow nearly as loud as a morning rooster and then even louder but the small animal wasn’t calling at or after its fellow chickens or the slower lumbering goats. Nelly peered knowingly at Felecia and raised her head and called, only stopping long enough to see if her cries made any difference before calling all the louder and longer.
By the time Felecia reached the edge of the woods and took those first few wet steps into its fetid interior the chicken was crying freshly bellowed outrage. The noise was such that Jacqueline stopped with her mask on and her gear set and spoke aloud, “That damn bird get a piece of old fence stuck in its foot or what?”
Felecia didn’t know how to respond or what to say, she simply shrugged and turned back to the little animal as it stood stubbornly and called out in the rut line. She returned to the hen and reached out only to receive a sharp beak for her efforts. The hen pecked at her hand, once and then again until her hand moved away and then until she waved away at the animal and turned again to leave before the little animal cried longer and louder than ever.
The only end to the awful noise seemed to be keeping still while the little animal contemplated the choice of watching Felecia leave the meadow. Every time she advanced the little animal waved off and every time she moved towards the woods it screamed fresh and louder than ever.
Finally, Felecia took the initiative of scooping the plump little bird into her hands as she chose to carry it deeper into the woods and away from the goats and other chickens. The nervous little bird was suddenly quieted and they moved on into the dim lantern lit swamp until Jacqueline stopped them.
“I already told you how that ends. You bring that chicken back to the well, it dies there. I tried; I’ve seen how that ends.”
Felecia chose to ignore the old witch as she carried the bird with her until they reached the well and the cave burrow.
A new bed of healthy worms and moss and fungi were tested and sprinkled with Felecia’s version of rest it all and everything survived. Just as Felecia finished a tiny one chicken hutch near the stove for Nelly to live and provide near daily doses of fresh eggs.
The two of them sat and ate a quality meal involving stewed cabbage, carrots, and mushrooms with boiled eggs on top when Jacqueline cut in.
“It will come at night; it won’t wait until we’re busy or desperate. It will come and pound down the door and throw us aside and it will take that animal and it will kill it and leave the poor thing for the insects to feast on. You aren’t helping girl; you’re making it so much worse.”
Felecia didn’t hear the warning, she pretended to hear instead, she made plans and traded favors. Felecia nodded and read the texts that were so ready to observe then and there. She soaked herself in what it was to live off the land and found herself happy with the small language afforded her and the hen who favored her in the moment.
By the time that the dumb little hen had finally made herself recognized and heard there was no time left to celebrate.