Friend #55

I am a sucker for animals (I really am, except for hamster dogs.) Last weekend was the weekend for animal disasters: my son's hen, Amelia, died. Two hours later his gecko, Stewie, died too. 24 hours after that, one of our dogs broke his leg while he was greeting us at the door. We were left with one chicken, a tank of fish, and three dogs.

I knew I had to replace the lost hen first and foremost when I saw her sister running the perimeter of our back yard, crying for her lost best friend. This went on for a few days but surprisingly she continued to give us eggs.

I knew our two regular feed barns were out of hens for the summer. I turned to Craigslist and found a woman who had lots to sell. I called her and inquired about her location. She lives on the other end of town but was eager to sell those hens. "They're only $10 each" she grunted in her smoker's voice. I explained that I didn't want to drive that far but thanks. Three minutes later she texted me, "It's Jay, the lady with the chickens. I'll give you four for $40." How is that different from one for $10, I thought out loud. Hmmm. This crazy called me FIVE more times that evening and left messages. That was the end of my Craigslist endeavours.

The next day I discovered The Feed Barn in Phoenix. It looked nice online so we ventured through a monsoon storm to get our new girls.

There, we met the coolest, most dorky family: Mindy, Bob, Cory and Tasha. They own and operate the store. Bob's sweaty shirt greeted me before he did, at the door. He reminded me of that friendly neighbor who borders on creepy/special needs/redneck/life saver. He was dirty but soooo nice. He brought me to his wife, who showed us to the back barn where she keeps her chicks. I told her what I was looking for (two chicks, different breeds) and I introduced each breed to my son as we came upon each one. He decided on one hawk-looking one and named her Shakira for the celebrity's matching hair color. We chose one for my other son's birthday gift and settled on a gold Buff, now named Sunny. Isaiah pointed out that now Jack has two and he only has one hen, so I agreed that he should have two also. This is when he chose Bella Swan, a white Leghorn who is very feisty and bitchy.

The 17-year-old acne-infested son, Cory, checked us out and volunteered his 14-year-old sister Tasha to carry the 50 pound bag of feed to my car. "She's kinda small, isn't she? Can your dad get it?" I hoped. "Nah, Tasha does it all day long!" Cory replied, as proud as a brother can be. He nodded at Tasha with a "Watch This" look on his face.

And she did it! 90 pound Tasha hurled that 50 pound bag over her shoulder and marched over to my car. "I could carry it all the way to your house if you let me!" she yelled with what I thought was an Alabama drawl.

Isaiah and I got in the car and giggled all the way home. I can't wait until that 50 pound bag is gone and I get to go back there for more!