Igor
The Memoir of a Little Red Hen
by
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I was born in what you call a hatchery. There were thousands of eggs and I’m sure that some of them were my brothers and sisters. Once I hatched, though, I was boxed up along with about two dozen other chicks and I was shipped out. It was early in 1996 when my life started. We had enough food in the box to keep us alive until The Woman opened it. We were in a place that smelled of all kinds of food but we weren’t there long. The Woman took us home and handed our box to The Man. She explained that she wanted him to teach us to accept being handled by people. This would make it easier for The Woman to feed, clean, and medicate us. Huh! As though something without feathers could teach us anything! About two years later, I broke my shoulder. Now I don’t know how much you know about chickens, but my injury made me fair game for the other hens. The others were constantly attacking me and plucking out my feathers. As a result, The Woman and The Man gave me a cage of my very own. I couldn’t help walking with my body hunched over. The Man noticed my walk and joked about someone called Doctor Frankenstein. This person had an assistant named Igor. As I later discovered, The Man wasn’t naming me. He was only joking. By the time he discovered what was happening, the rest of his family was calling me Igor and I was responding to the name. I think it was nice that The Man decided not to change my name. That kind of thing can be so confusing. The Woman and The Man had a fenced-in area where we hens would occasionally be released so we could graze. While I was recovering, I ------------- It was a beautiful day and I was in The Man’s arms. The Woman laughed and accused me of trying to make time with The Man right in front of her. I was rubbing my head against The Man’s cheek and settling down as though The Man’s arms were a nest.
My attitude quickly changed. The Man held all of the other hens while The Woman cleaned their cages. I was the last to be held and have her cage cleaned. It wasn’t fair! After all, everyone knew I was the boss of all the chickens, didn’t they? Eventually, I forgave The Man. The fact that he brought a can of worms didn’t hurt. I was the only chicken smart enough to look in my dish whenever The Man tapped it. Sometimes the dish had regular food; but on many occasions, my dish had a juicy worm. The rooster and the other hens often lost their worms because they were too busy looking to see if some neighbor was getting better food, but I attacked my worm with precision. I repeatedly avoided getting The Man’s fingers as I dived at my dish and finished off my worm, all the time keeping my back to the other hens so they couldn’t see what I got. The Man took me for a walk outside of the shed while the other chickens remained in the shed with their cages. I was going to pay a harmless visit to the other chickens when The Man pointed to a pipe in the ground. He explained that the dog standing near the shed would get me if I crossed the pipe. Well, I looked at the pipe. Then I looked at the dog. Finally, I looked at The Man. I decided that The Man was trying to explain he couldn’t protect me from anything on the other side of the pipe. Naturally, I walked away from the pipe and never crossed it. After all, the dog had a small piece of ground and I had the rest of the land.
realized that I was safe as long as I stayed by The Man’s feet. The other hens couldn’t persecute me there.
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About the Book
IGOR: The Memoir of a Little Red Hen is the heartwarming story of a hen with an attitude, as told by the hen. The story contains: friendship, pain, loyalty, a hint of a murder mystery, and humor.
As a hen with an attitude, Igor (pronounced "EEgor") doesn't hesitate to tell the horses, goats, and people who's in charge...as long as she has one special person with her.
This story will remind many of us of the special bond we have with our pets now and those we had in the past.
About the Author
Richard Franco has had a varied background in education and employment. His education has covered electronics, liberal arts, mathematics, and computer science.
Richard's employment has included being an Air Force inventory specialist assigned to NASA's Space Shuttle and Space Station Programs. More recently, he's settled down to being a customer service representative for an Internet website.