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Chickadees

June 1, 2022 By Audra Kerr Brown

Chickadees

Sister says we need to hatch a plan. Says she’s been thinking when I sleep, thinking when it’s my turn downstairs with Mister. Says we need to fly this coop before he cracks us in two, tosses our shells in the trash.

We need to be smaller.  Hollow-boned, Sister says. Sparrow-light. Her beaked hand plucks bread from my lips, stuffs it beneath our mattress. Hides it as Mister unlocks the door, reaches for one of us to pet.

I search Sister’s shoulder blades for wings. She clucks her tongue. There’s more than one way to fly.

 Hunger pecks our throats, claws our insides. My chickadees! Mister cries. My little chickadees! Tries to hand feed us, force food into our gullets. Nothing stays down.

We gather the hair we’ve lost, make a nest in our hands.

Purple-eyed, string-necked.  Yoke-yellow skin. Birdbath hips. Mister calls us ugly ducklings now.

Sister points to the cage of my ribs, how slowly my heart flutters.

 We roost on our mattress, fragile as eggs. Mister no longer sets us on his perch, no longer forces us to sing.

When? I peep. When, when, when?  My breath is shallow, soft as feathers. Sister pulls me close, strokes the downy hair of my cheek like a mother hen. Soon, she coos. Soon.

About Audra Kerr Brown

Audra Kerr Brown lives at the end of a dirt road in Iowa. Her work has appeared in the Best Small Fictions (2018, 2021), Wigleaf’s Top 50 (Very) Short Fictions list, X-R-A-Y, Milk Candy Review, Flashback Fiction, People Holding, Outlook Springs, and more. She is the founder of The Flashtronauts! YouTube channel, and her chapbook is forthcoming with Harbor Editions. Follow her on Twitter at @audrakerrbrown.

Artist Credit:

Brett J Barr is an artist/ tattooist, born in Easton Pennsylvania. He grew up in Daytona Beach, moved to Orlando FL in 1997 and now resides in Chuluota, FL. Aside from tattooing at Built 4 Speed Tattoo in Orlando, Brett enjoys many different art forms such as graphite, charcoal, paint, pen and ink, mixed media/ graphic design, woodworking miniatures and studies classical guitar.

Contacts:
brettjbarr@yahoo.com
Facebook/ Brett J Barr
Instagram/ brettjbarrtattoos
Shop Insta/ built4speedtattoos
built4speedtattoos.com/brettjbarr

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