Chicken Soup: Dreams And Delusions

"Small or Large"

"Um...cut them into medium sized pieces"

"Okay!" said the butcher and bought down his heavy knife on the neck of the chicken.

*THUD*

It was just another day for the butcher.

Cooped up in his small 10x10 shop, surrounded by cages full of cackling birds and wearing a blood stained apron he went about his job, skillfully ripping off the feathers and skin of the dead bird. He felt no emotion or pity as he sliced the once living bird into hunks of meat and packed it off into the hands of the waiting customer.

For him it was just a job and a tiring one at that.

He took a glance at the watch as he stretched his aching back. It was 8:30 in the evening - time to clean up the shop and shut down for the day.

From behind their cages the birds watched with relief as the butcher and his assistant went about their daily chores of cleaning up the blood stained floors and carrying out the remains of the numerous dead birds that had been slaughtered during the day.

For them this ritual signified the end of yet another day and perhaps a few more hours to live.

It had been a rude awakening for all of them.

Born and bought up on the chicken farm, life had been all about eating and running around and playing with each other until one fine day they found themselves packed into a van and sent off to a fate that none of them could even dream of.

Now each day was spent in mute terror, huddled against each other in the dirty filthy cages waiting for the clanging that accompanied the opening of the cage door and the hand that would dart in and drag one of them out to certain death.

Death was a certainty but for now life had granted them a little more time. With this thought on their mind the chickens shut their eyes for the night.

Meanwhile outside the shop an old brown scrawny cat stood eagerly, watching the butcher and his assistant at work. He kept meowing pitifully at them hoping for some scrap to be thrown his way. There was a time when the cat had walked with a proud countenance and had shunned the company of men. But now, well past his prime and too old to go about hunting, it was on human mercy and waste that he now found himself surviving.

When the butcher's eyes finally fell upon the meowing and wailing cat he promptly picked it up and bought it into the shop flashing a grin at his assistant.

Now the butcher wasn't really a feline lover. In fact he had nothing but the most selfish intentions in his mind. For the past many days he had been faced with the menace of a rather gluttonous rat that loved to feast on the eggs he stored in his shop. The butcher had tried everything from traps to poisons but the rat had so far evaded all attempts at capture and the cat was now the butcher's only hope.

Caressing the head of the now very happy cat he set it down in the middle of the store and offered it a tiny piece of bread. As the hungry cat feasted on that scrap the butcher quickly exited the shop pulling the shutters down behind him locking the cat inside.

For a long time the cat tried and tried searching for a way out of the place but failed and finally gave up hungry and frustrated. As he sniffed around looking for something to eat his eyes fell upon a chicken staring back at him.

"What's wrong with you? Aren't you gonna sleep?" the cat asked her as he licked his paws.

"I don't know...just don't feel up to it!" the chicken sighed, "But what are you doing here?" she added.

"I don't know...but I will be out when it is morning" the cat said as he made his way to the egg stack. He sniffed around the eggs and quickly decided he did not like them.

"You are fortunate...we are all destined to die here..." the chicken continued in her sullen tone as the cat continued to look around the shop.

The cat by now found himself quite bored of his surroundings and glanced at the sad chicken. The need for entertainment spawned a wicked plan in his head. He hopped down towards the cage and whispered to the hen.

"I know dear...I know how horrible things are for you...but I tell you honestly...it is all going to change very soon."

"What are you talking about" the hen asked, her eyes lighting up.

"You know I am old and I have been with humans a long time and I know everything there is to know about them. They were always cruel, as both you and me know, but I tell you," the cat purred, in an almost conspiratorial tone, " things are beginning to change."

"Humans are beginning to abandon their cruel ways and are allowing animals to go free! In fact the other day a cat just like me was run over by a careless driver. People actually got together and took the cruel driver to task. It was an unbelievable sight...and it is just one of the many things I have begun to see"

"That is why I tell you...soon the slaughter that goes on here will stop and you too will be free. Ever imagined how it would be like to roam free...do as you please.... fly through the sky...wake up when you want to...go where you want to...no cages...ever wondered? Ever wondered about the beautiful world that lies beyond this filthy cage and beyond this filthy place?"

The chicken's eyes were now filled with dreams and the cat was loving every moment of it.

"Are you sure of what you say?" the chicken gasped with joy.

"Of course my dear! Just wait and you shall see" said the cat with a wide grin and walked away once again bored.

The chicken meanwhile began to float in her own world. She began to see dreams of running wild, of floating through the sky and feeling the wind against her wings, roaming where she wanted to, unrestrained by any cage or bars. It was a feeling like nothing she had ever experienced before. All her life had been spent behind a cage and she couldn't imagine a life without it. She had always wondered about what lay beyond those grilles and now she felt she could finally go out and see for herself.

Lost in her dreams she never noticed the time go by. She never heard the squeak of the mouse as it walked unawares into the path of the cat and its own fatal destiny. And neither did she even realize the coming of dawn and the arrival of the butcher.

It was only the clanging of the cage doors that finally awakened her.

It was day already and the counter was choc-a-bloc with people. The Sunday mass at church had just left and a large crowd of people had dropped by to pick up some meat for the afternoon lunch. But the poor chicken in all her elation and joy mistook the congregation to be her rescuers and saviours.

Her heart skipped a beat...her time had come..."These people have come to rescue me"

She stood up with a flourish and fluttered her wings, waiting proudly for the moment even as the other chickens retreated to the corners of the cage huddling against each other.

One of the customers pointed a finger in her direction.

"They are asking for me" her heart almost sang with glee, even as the butchers hand darted in and grabbed her proud body with iron fists and dragged her out.

With a quick move he twisted her wings around so she couldn't escape and dumped her on the scales. All of a sudden she felt her dream tumbling. She stared terrified as her supposed "saviour" scrutinized her and then nodded his approval.

Her mind was in a whirl.

"What was happening...this was not how it was meant to be..."

"This is the only chicken that has any life in it...just look at the others...all dead and lifeless!" complained a customer even as she screamed and struggled.

The butcher frowned and took the chicken off to a corner of the shop behind a little wall built to hide the gruesome slaughter from the eyes of the waiting customers. The chicken watched with horror as she felt the cold steel of a knife against her throat. With one swift cut the butcher slit the throat of the chicken and tossed her flailing struggling body into a little bin waiting for her to die.

In the bin the struggling chicken found her strength slowly disappearing. The blood oozed in a steady stream and coated itself around her flapping wings and body in a sticky mess. She couldn't believe what was happening to her but she knew of the fate that awaited her and with a sigh she gave up her struggle. The pain had now subsided and in its place a weird numbness now began to spread through her body.

Once again images began to pass before her blood coated eyes...of open fields.... of flying through blue boundless skies...and of freedom.

As her struggles stopped the butcher lifted her bloodied and still body out from the bin and placed her on the chopping block.

"Small or large" he cried out to the customer.

The chicken didn't know what those words meant but she knew what they signified.

"Large" the customer shouted back

She closed her eyes...

*THUD*

...and darkness descended.