Lovely Wild by Megan Hart Page B

cows. Goats, maybe. Around the back was a tall box of small cages stacked on top of each other, also empty. It looked as though it had once had pigeons or something in it. Outside behind the barn, closer to the field, was a high, round cage made of wire like something you’d see in a zoo. Inside was a doghouse, but it didn’t look like the sort of cage you’d use for a dog. A monkey, maybe.
    Or a person.
    The chickens were cool, too. Red ones, white ones, a few speckled ones with fluffy feet and heads. That was the sort Ethan was trying to catch, and Kendra had to admit, they did look soft and fun to pet. But they were all wild, running around and dodging his grasp. It was funny to watch.
    “Ain’t the way to catch ’em.”
    Kendra and Ethan both turned at the sound of an unfamiliar voice as an old woman shuffled around the edge of the barn. She wore a brightly colored muumuu, rubber boots and a baseball cap with a picture of a tractor on it. She waved at Ethan, who moved at once to Kendra’s side. Kendra put her arm around him, knowing it was stupid to be afraid of an old woman, even if she did show up all of a sudden out of nowhere.
    “I’m Rosie, from down the lane. Heard we was getting some new folks.” She had a funny accent. “Dawn the lane,” it sounded like. She grinned, showing straight teeth way too white and big for her face. White hair floated from under the ball cap, some of it tied behind her but most of it loose. She jerked a thumb toward the driveway. “I look after the chickens. Used to take care of the squabs, too, and the peafowl, but they’re long gone now.”
    “Is that what was in that big cage?” Kendra pointed.
    Rosie nodded. “Yep, yep. A hen and a cock. Victor and Victoria was their names.”
    Ethan giggled when the old lady said cock, though Kendra was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to even know that was a dirty word. “Peacocks!”
    “Yep, yep.” Rosie shuffled forward.
    “What happened to them?” Ethan asked.
    “Oh...they runned off. Victor and Victoria are probably dead by now. But I think they had some chicks or something. At any rate, I find their feathers sometimes, so...” Rosie shrugged.
    “So they are around?” Ethan bounced. “Can we see them? That would be really cool!”
    “Maybe they’re out there in the woods, though if they can live on their own out there without getting et up by a fox or coyote or somethin’ they can surely hide from you.”
    “Coyotes?” Kendra’s lip curled. “I didn’t know there were coyotes in Pennsylvania.”
    “Yep, yep, sure there are.” Rosie laughed. “But don’t you worry ’bout that. These chickens here, now, they’ll squawk and kick up a ruckus if so much as a possum comes rustling around, and coyotes mostly keep to themselves up on the mountain. They come down once in a while to get into your garbage, but so will a bear if you don’t keep it locked up. Raccoons, too. All kinds of things have a mind to get into your trash.”
    “Bears?” Ethan looked up at Kendra. “Kiki, for real?”
    Surely the old lady had to be exaggerating, but she didn’t look like she was. Kendra shrugged. “I dunno, kid.”
    Rosie studied him. “Tell you what, little man. Why don’t you help me feed these chickens, and I bet we can catch ourselves one of those pretty ones for you to pet, if you want. And I’ll show you how to collect the eggs. How about that?”
    Ethan looked up at Kendra, already one step away from her but his expression questioning. Something panged inside her. She remembered the monkeybrat being born, how it had been to hold him as a baby. Sure, he was a booger and did all kinds of boy stuff she didn’t like, and sometimes she wished he’d been a sister and other times she was glad he was a boy so that she could still have her mom to herself for girl things, even if she did believe her mother preferred Ethan to her. But mostly, she liked her little brother, and when he looked at her like that, she was