**This story contains graphic and explicit material it is not recommended for children. For mature audiences only** 18+ In this episode the hen interprets every death on her farm as evidence of God’s judgments on the undeserving, and takes skewed life lessons from the deaths. Send me a message me for your free pdf copy of this book and if you would like discuss it. I hope you enjoy it. https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/13365914 Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris read by me Teacher Alyse Illustrations by Ian Falconer It was hot that afternoon, so after the chicken and her sister had walked the yard a few times, they wandered into the henhouse for a little shade. Had it been crowded they probably wouldn’t have said much, but there was no one around, and so the two spoke intimately, the way they had when they were young. “I don’t know if it’s normal or what,” the sister said. “But sometimes… and this is just between the two of us, okay?” The chicken nodded. “Sometimes, when I’m with the rooster, I wonder what it would be like if he, you know, wasn’t a rooster.” “You mean, like, if he was a duck or a goose?” The thought was ridiculous, and the chicken had to bite the inside of her beak to keep a straight face. “Or how about a turkey?” At this she lost her composure and whooped until her eyes teared. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry. Go on.” “Never mind,” her sister said. “It wasn’t important.” “Oh, don’t be like that,” the chicken scolded. “Come on, now. So if he’s not a rooster, what is he?” The sister took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well, like, maybe if he was, for instance, more like me?” “Brown?” the chicken said, and in the silence that followed she grasped what her sister had been aiming at. “You don’t mean…” “It’s just a thought,” her sister said. “Just a thought?” “Something that’s passed through my mind a couple of times.” “A couple of times?” This was what the chicken did when presented with shocking or unpleasant news.