Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
He raised a brow.
I giggled and said, “Just kidding. But really, think of it like a small neighborhood that you had to have the right credentials to enter. They’re very safety conscious. No joke. But, anyway, I’m veering off topic. I won’t even begin to explain how worried my dad is now that I’m living alone. Wow, seriously off topic. So, no, to be bullied, you have to care that people are saying mean things to you. You have to care what they think, and I didn’t. I had this hard shell that protected me, thanks to my family. I was raised right, and I’m sure that your daughter was raised right, too.”
“You’re saying that since I gave my daughter shit, she probably didn’t care that she was bullied?”
I found myself smiling. “Yes! Exactly! You gave her the right tools to combat the bullying.”
He made a soft sound in his throat.
I kind of felt stupid as I was explaining it to him, but I was happy that he understood my convoluted way of trying to get my point across to him.
“My daughter and you would get along famously,” he laughed. “You’re probably a Star Wars fan, aren’t you?”
I found my lips twitching. “JarJar Binks, all the way.”
He stared at me like I’d grown a second head.
I burst out laughing. “I’m just kidding, Jesus! It’s Yoda, okay?”
He gave me a droll look. “I was going to say that you were a pretty cool neighbor to have until I heard you say that. Now I’m not so sure.”
I snickered.
He gave me one last, lingering look before he walked to the box that was sitting on the corner of his desk.
“Here it is.”
I walked over to it. “Let’s open it and see what I ordered, I guess. Maybe it’s the starter stuff they asked if I wanted at checkout.”
“Have you ever had chickens before?” he asked as he moved around his desk and pulled out a large hunting knife from somewhere underneath his desk.
“Wow,” I said. “That’s a big knife.”
He snorted. “That’s not a knife, this is a knife.”
I smiled. “Crocodile Dundee!”
His eyes caught mine and held for a long moment. Something passed between us, and all of a sudden, I felt like I was being inspected underneath a microscope.
“You’re not like any girl I’ve ever met.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I didn’t say anything, I just gave him a little shrug.
He walked back around the desk and took the knife to the box. About ten seconds later, what looked like kitty litter started to pour out of the opening.
“What the fuck?” he asked.
I cursed. “I’ll clean it up, I swear.”
He grunted. “I have a cleaning lady who comes tonight. The mess isn’t a big deal. She’s dealt with worse. Sometimes I pull transmissions from trucks and set them in the front—”
“You have one up there right now,” I interrupted.
He grunted again. “Yeah, but I let that one drain outside. Sometimes I don’t have the time and just pull it straight in, especially when it’s raining out. She’s dealt with a lot. That’s why I pay her well.”
“Hmm,” I said. “Maybe I need to borrow her. I hate cleaning.”
“I’ll give you her card before you leave,” he said as he opened the flaps of the box, and then peeked inside. “Eggs?”
I looked down into the box and saw the top of an egg carton.
“What the hell?”
He pulled the first egg carton out, and inside were eggs. Fertilized eggs, actually.
I blinked.
“So, what did you think you were ordering?” he questioned, a large smile filling up his face.
“I thought I was ordering a random assortment of eighteen chickens.” I paused. “Not a random assortment of chicken eggs.”
He started to chuckle.
“Well, looks like you’re gonna be hatching some chicken eggs.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
He swept the packing material that’d spilled from the box down onto the floor, and then walked back around the desk to replace the knife into a sheath that I could just barely see now that I was looking for it.
“What do I do with them?” I wondered, looking at the box.
Coke snorted. “You have to get an incubator.”
“An incubator?” I asked, worry filling my voice.
“Yeah,” he said. “These are fertilized eggs that you ordered. Put them in an incubator, and they’ll hatch. Same thing.”
Not the same thing. Not anywhere close to the same thing.
“But…I don’t have an incubator,” I hesitated.
Chapter 6
If cauliflower can somehow become pizza, you, too, can be anything.
-Cora’s Secret Thoughts
Cora
We left the eggs in his office, and he took me to lunch.
Why we were going to lunch first before the feed store where he said there were incubators, I didn’t know. But I wasn’t complaining. Nor did I think I should question him when he was adamant about feeding me—food was life.
“So…the woman that you were arguing with that I saved you from…what’s up with her? I know that she’s your ex-wife, and I know that you apparently don’t get along. Tell me why,” I questioned.