Chicken Little was found on the footpath. Outside the catholic church in Footscray. The identical tins Colleen and Bettina found him – just a small chirping ball of yellow fluff.
Eileen and Veronica were not maternal.They had each other. They shared a room in Footscray. They needed no one else to begin and end their day or their sentences. Not until Eileen had the tumour removed from her jaw and the surgeons took an opportunity to reshape her quarter moon profile. The non-identical identical twin. But that was later.
Eileen and Veronica placed the cheeping Chicken Little in the shopping bag and caught the bus to East Keilor. Out to the suburbs to present Chicken Little to Debbie. The woman. The wife. The mother.
When Debbie married Menur, Debbie's mother prayed in church that Debbie would keep the house nice and make Menur a good wife. When Debbie gave birth to Rosie, Debbie's mother prayed in church that Debbie would keep the house nice and be a good mother. When Debbie gave birth to Yusef, Debbie's mother cleaned the house, cooked for Menur and just prayed. When Debbie kicked Menur out Debbie's mother had him to stay.
Debbie found Wendy, a local day carer, for the children. She was not lucky with the animals. The dogs had to be put down. One kept running away and the other a biter. He had bitten Mrs Papadopolous next door and that was the end of him. The bird lasted three months and the goldfish died when the pond ran dry.
The cats, Celery and Daisy have survived. Mrs Papadopolous feeds them when Debbie is away or forgets to feed them.
Eileen and Veronica knew all this when they left the hapless chick in Debbie's care at East Keilor. The two red chickens which lived in the secret garden and laid eggs sometimes gave them confidence. There was a lovely rambling garden for a chicken in which to get lost. This was a good decision for a homeless chicken.
Rosie and Yusef loved Chicken Little for a while. They nursed him and made him a bed in a shoe box. The cats Celery and Daisy had to be separated from him as they nosed and poked and miaowed at him.
So for the first few days, then weeks and months, Chicken Little took over the house and became somewhat human. As he grew bolder he was banished to the side garden where he terrified the cats and flew at Mrs Papadopolous. In the secret garden he was attacked by the two red hens and came flying and squawking back over the hight fence and into the house.
Debbie tried to return him to Eileen and/or Veronica. But they had moved from their room in Footscray to the city or to Daylesford or both. One day they had returned to live with their surprised elderly parents.
After Menur left, Debbie's new boyfriend built a net to capture Chicken Little when he was most vicious. He was a wily bird and this little exercise could take all day. Simon would spend time doing the male bonding thing with Chicken Little. He had seen male bonding on a Mother and Son program. But Chicken Little was a ranting raving rooster.
One sunny day Chicken Little flew at Debbie once too often, pecking her legs and arms while she was painting in the side garden. She scruffed him by the neck and marched down the path through the mosaic garden. Past the red chairs and the ginger plant. Through the secret garden and over the stile at the back fence.
Across the grass and up to the thick buffer fence that separates East Keilor from the Calder Highway and the Maribyrnong River. With a mighty heave she threw Chicken Little over this fence.
The next morning Mrs Papadopolous brought the remains of Chicken Little to the fence to show Debbie. A fox, said Mrs Papadopolous, tearfully shaking her head. She thought Chicken Little had escaped through the shared back fence no one had bothered to mend.
We tried to tell Veronica but she lives at Daylesford now. She no longer has anyone to start or finish her sentences. She sells parsley and poems from a wheelbarrow in the streets of the town. Eileen gets lost in the city centre when she is released from care and is never quite sure if she is Eileen and/or Veronica
Debbie has an exhibition once a year in spite of the kids, the pets, the house and the boyfriend. She sends me a comic book called Bad Mother Volume III.
Yusef collects the feathers of Chicken Little and takes them to kindergarten for show and tell. Tells the story with a glint in his eye.
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