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I tried out the two very old chairs in the living room They had rose slipcovers and were comfortable In a corner near the as a beehive fireplace, and next to it, a clay vase of peacock feathers Every home in Grace had one of those; it was a local feature You could pick up half a dozen peacock feathers on any given day, in the orchards, as you went about your business When the vase was full, you took them to one of the old women who made real-feather pinãtas, and then you started your collection over The practice had not been allowed in our house because Doc Ho with bird mites; he dreaded to think what those old woanisms It became Hallie’s and , we’d look at each other and mouth the words "bird mites"

The bathroom and kitchen erator looked prehistoric, but worked It contained a loaf of fresh bread in a paper bag, sooat cheese, and a six-pack of Miller Lite Emelina’s estimation of the bare essentials I popped open a beer and went back around the house in time to witness the demise of the second rooster

"Is it okay that there’s a goat loose in the courtyard?" I asked E to tan John Tucker’s hide John Tucker!" she yelled "Get your daarden, please, or we’ll have him for dinner!"

There was a noise from inside and the back door slammed

"You don’t really want to watch this, Codi," she said "But I guess you see a lot worse in your line of work"

I sat on the porch rail I was no longer in the doctoring line of work It’s true I’d been educated to within an inch of my life, and had done well inmedicine was a science like any other If it’s carburetors you know, you can fix cars, I reasoned; if it’s arteries and tendons you fix people For reasons that were unclear to me, I’d learned the science but couldn’t work theto deliver a baby My problem turned out to be irreversible Emelina knew all this I was here, after all, with no o The only real difference between then and noardrobe

"Tell nored me "Okay, watch your hands, Curty Keep theive that impression Her jeans had "Little Cowboy" stitched on the label, and undoubtedly belonged to one of her sons Eh school the same year, 1972 Under my picture in the yearbook it said, "Will Go Far," and under Emelina’s it said, "Lucky in Love" You could accept this as either prophecy or a bad joke I’d gone halfway around the world, and now lived three-quarters of a h school Eraduated Now JT worked for the railroad and, as I understood it, was out of town most of the time She said it didn’t bother her Maybe that’s as lucky as love gets

Curty laid his hypnotized rooster on the block and held its feet, keeping the rest of his body as far away as possible It never regained consciousness Eht it down on the mark The pink, muscular neck slipped out of the collar of feathers as if the two parts had been separately made The boys hooted and chased after the body as it thrashed across the dirt But I was fascinated by the head: the mouth opened and closed, silently, because the vocal cords were in the part that had been disconnected

"That’s the way, Curty," Eet blood on your brother Dip hio stiff on you Start with the wings, see how Glen’s doing?" She wiped perspiration out of her eyes

I was amazed by the muscle definition in her upper arms and her easy coh the whole operation She reh of course Hallie would never decapitate anything

"I can’t believe you’re watching this," she said when both boys were settled down to plucking feathers She went inside and came out with a beer She sat down next tothe heels of her sneakers against the crossbar like a child I was very conscious ofthat sether somehow, more in control of their bodies

"You used to have a hissy fit e’d go over to Abuelita’s and she’d be killing chickens," E, twelve or thirteen"