The World Famous Chicken Coop Story

In light of yesterday's unaccustomed seriousness, today I bring you one of those good old-fashioned stories of childhood that are told over and over, in this case, to my sister Lizzy's great chagrin.

 An epic tale of villainy and valor….

A long time ago (well, fifteen years ago at least), in a land far, far, away (actually, the whole thing happened about 75 feet from where I am sitting) there were three little kids, named Rachel, Elizabeth, and Isaac. They were very cute little children, each one with dark hair and dark brown eyes, but there were souls of mischief hidden behind those innocent-looking eyes.

These three lived on a little farm with their parents, and enjoyed long days of playing outside with their cats and getting dirty in the gardens. They also owned chickens, with whom they were quite friendly. One fine summer day, with no premonition of the evil about to happen, their Mommy sent these three to the chicken coop to gather the eggs and bring them back to the house. On the way to the chicken coop, a nefarious plan hatched in the mind of the middle child, Elizabeth. She wanted to make sure that she would be able to carry all of the eggs back to Mommy herself, without sharing the glory with her two siblings. To ensure this, she was the first to reach the nests of the chickens inside the coop, and while her siblings were still engaged in chasing the chickens around, she dashed out of the coop with the eggs, closing and locking the door behind her.
 

Rachel and Isaac felt a sudden terror when the door of the coop slammed shut. Rachel ran over to the door, and tried to slip her hand through the cracks and pull the lock open, but she was unsuccessful. With the door shut, it was rather dark in the chicken coop, as the only light came from a small window on the wall farthest from the door. Isaac, who was not yet two years old, started to cry, and Rachel was becoming more terrified by the moment. She envisioned being locked in there with the chickens for hours, missing dinner time, having to sleep on the dirt floor! The five-year old quickly decided that it was her responsibility to rescue her brother and herself. The only plan that seemed worth trying was to break the one window of the chicken coop, lift Isaac up and get him out of the window, and then climb out the window herself. Resolutely, she picked up a 2x4, set her teeth, and swung it hard against the window. Just as the glass shattered, light poured in to the chicken coop as Mommy opened the door and stepped inside.

                “Rachel,” she gasped, “What happened?” She scooped up crying Isaac as Rachel ran to her.

                “Mommy, Elizabeth locked us in! I thought we were going to have to stay here all night unless we escaped, and the only way was through the window!”

                Mommy had been concerned when Elizabeth returned with the eggs but without her siblings, and after some minutes had passed, had gone outside to get the stragglers, not expecting to find a locked door and a broken window. She tried to communicate the illogical basis of Rachel’s fears of being forgotten inside the chicken coop overnight, but I think that at the time Rachel still considered her panic justified. I am glad to note, however, that there was no permanent rift in the good relations enjoyed between the three siblings.

To this day, that chicken coop still stands—though recently it looks more like it leans tiredly toward the right. The one window is covered with chicken wire rather than glass, a memento of the only way Rachel could think of to rescue herself and her brother from their sister’s malevolent plot.