Page 57 of Daddy's Little Patient

“Okay, Daddy,” Gwennie said with a mischievous sparkle in her eye before she flopped over onto her pile of blankets and started fake snoring, sending the girls into another gale of giggles.

Chapter Thirty

Afew weeks after the sleepover, it was finally happening! Cricket had been chasing this pie in the sky for years, and her dream was coming true.

She could hardly believe that only a couple months ago she’d been alone, miserable, sleep-deprived, and working in a dingy cubicle at a job she didn’t even like. Now she lived in one of the most beautiful places on earth with her dream Daddy and a bunch of Little friends and their Daddies, and the first residents of her farm would be here in less than a week!

It was pretty funny that you could get chicks delivered through the mail, but that’s what was going to happen. Of course Mister ’Pollo would have to make the final leg of the journey with her new feathered friends since it’s not like the USPS came to Enclave. But even that seemed fitting since his nickname meant chicken in Spanish.

The pilot had not been especially amused when she pointed that out. Maybe because the girls had proceeded to make chicken noises until he threatened to call their Daddies and have their bottoms spanked.

Today Cricket was so excited because while some of the coop and the run were constructed thanks to Mister Taj putting his guys to work, they still had to be completed. And that’s what everyone on the island was doing today. It made her so happy her heart was about ready to burst.

So while most of the Daddies worked on putting up the wire to keep eagles and other predators away from her precious chickens, Mister Gavin and her Daddy had all the girls behind the Bayards’ cabin. It was kind of the neighborhood backyard, and they did a lot of activities here.

Mister Gavin clapped his hands together and all the Little girls sat on their bottoms, criss-cross applesauce, and looked at him expectantly.

“You girls have a really important job to do today to help get the chicken coop and run ready for Cricket’s flock. Chickens are really smart and they can get bored so we need to make them some toys to play with. We have a bunch of leftover lumber and Doctor Pierce and I can help you with tools if we need to. And when you’re done, we can all decorate together. Let’s get a move on because there’s a lot of work to do, and not a lot of daylight.”

* * *

Everyone stopped what they were doing when Pops came ambling into the yard towing a wagon. Cricket didn’t see him much; he kind of seemed like a grumpy old man ghost and she eyed him warily. Mister Taj said he complained a lot, and she really hoped he wasn’t going to ruin their fun by saying they were being too loud or that it was silly to make toys for chickens. But if he was just coming to be a meany, why would he bring a wagon?

The grizzled old salt went right up to her Daddy and Mister Gavin and talked to them while he gave the girls his back. She and Jojo and Gwennie and Lulu all exchanged looks. What was going on?

After a few minutes, her Daddy called her over. She was glad he’d put her in a diaper that wasn’t as hard to walk in because the ground was icky and she didn’t want to get dirty from being on her hands and knees, but also she didn’t know what Pops thought about Littles and she didn’t want him to be a mean old poopyhead about her crawling.

She took her Daddy’s hand when she reached them and pressed into his side. Lulu said Pops could be nice but Cricket had never known him to do anything but grunt and avoid people.

“Cricket, you know Pops.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “Hi Mister Pops.”

She thought she saw a hint of a smile under his unruly grey beard but then it disappeared.

“Heard you girls were making decorations for that chicken coop. Had some scraps lying around. Nothing fancy, you understand? Thought you might want ’em.”

“Oh, thank you!” Maybe Lulu was right, and Pops was nice.

“Just bring the wagon back when you’re done.”

And without another word he turned and walked away. He was a weird old man but maybe that’s what happened when you lived by yourself in a rotting fishing lodge.

Cricket turned to dig through the scraps Pops had brought to see if there was anything she could use to make the stands for the produce piñatas, or maybe some dowels to make perches. But she didn’t find scraps. The gruff old grizzly bear had brought something way better.

There were a dozen thick wooden stakes that had roughly carved sunflower shapes fastened to the top. Half had thick, sturdy dowels sticking out like leaves that the chickens could use to perch on or that they could hang cabbages or other vegetables and fruit to be pecked at. The other half had big screw eyes on them, and when she dug a little more she found what looked like a flexible ladder with carabiners at each corner, and a small, flat wooden swing. She could barely believe her eyes.

“Daddy, Mister Pops made the chickens a playground!”

“Huh,” said Mister Gavin, scratching his head. “Maybe the old sourdough isn’t so sour after all.”

* * *

The next afternoon, the chicken run and coop were nearly done, and ready for their feathered inhabitants to move in. The first part of Cricket’s farm looked great—better than some of the cabins that hadn’t been renovated yet, to be honest. Those chickens would be living the life of luxury when they arrived.

Owen wasn’t sure they’d appreciate the farm landscape the girls were painting on the outside of the coop, but he and the rest of the guys sure did. It was very sweet how hard the girls were working to give the chickens a nice home.

While the other guys finished up installing warming lights and perches in the coop, he and Cricket were in the run figuring out where to put the pieces of the chicken playground Pops had dropped off yesterday.

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