Page 25 of Any Second Now
Humpty Dumpty?
Me
How about M-egg-hen
January
LOL
Lucy
Yeah. Megghen. I like it. Double pun
I slide my phone into my bag and head into the store. I don’t have a good plan for Megghen, just like I didn’t have a good plan for this whole RV situation. Is this progress? Or just chaos?
Inside the farm store, I’m overwhelmed. I don’t go to many—any?—farm stores in Connecticut. So when an older man in worn jeans and a store branded t-shirt approaches me asking if I need help, I take him up on it.
“You want chicken supplies.” He repeats my request.
Was I not clear?
“Yup. I need chicken supplies.” I nod. “For my chicken.”
“Right.” He waves me to follow. “So you have a coop in your backyard?”
“Mmm, not exactly.”
“Do you have a list of what you need?”
“I can google one if it helps?” I slide my phone out of my pocket and shake it at his back.
He glances over his shoulder and sighs. “Why don’t you tell me about your situation.”
“I live in an RV and I’m unexpectedly taking care of a chicken. Temporarily.”
The man stops short and turns to look at me.
“That’s a new one.”
“Yup.” I nod in encouragement of him to process this faster.
“So you need food, food bowls, water bowls?”
“Probably.”
“Do you have a safe enclosure?”
“Nope. I don’t have any enclosure, unless the Pink Palace counts.”
He doesn’t ask for clarification.
“Where is the chicken now?”
“In my RV?”
“That’s also new.” He runs his hand through thinning hair. “Let’s get you set up with a simple, enclosed chicken run so she doesn’t have to stay in your house, er, RV. Some shavings so she has a place to rest. A place to nest.”
A hysterical giggle escapes me, and the man looks at me with concern.
