An Unexpected Problem

Photo by: April Morgue

Harlen knew Lester had a heart condition. That’s why he worried. As he pulled up to the farmhouse he breathed a sigh of relief. Lester stood there, waving.

“Damn, son!” said Harlen, joining Lester on the porch. “You had me worried.”

Lester offered him a beer. “Sorry about that. I see now you’ve been calling.”

“Yeah. What happened?” He took a long pull from the Coors.

“I blame it all on Jerry.”

“Your six-foot tall rooster?” At Lester’s request, Harlen agreed not to post videos of the giant mutant chicken on YouTube. “Did he finally go berserk? Chase you into a corner?”

“Naw, nothing like that. Jerry’s a good ol’ boy. So friendly he likes to stick close to me all day.”

“But I drove by. You weren’t home.”

“Yeah I been in town getting a hearing aid from Doc Swanson.”

Harlen leaned against a post. “Uh huh. And…?”

Lester collected another beer. “Well, you know normal roosters are small animals but very loud.”

“Right, but Jerry’s huge.”

“Yep. Jerry don’t just wake the farm when he crows, he wakes the dang county!”

Harlen’s face fell. “Oh…”

Lester nodded. “Dang bird blew out my eardrum!”
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Written for FLASH FICTION FOR THE PURPOSEFUL PRACTITIONER: https://flashfictionforthepracticalpractitioner.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/538/