Two Ladies

“C’mon, ladies!” Ansel called as he walked to the chicken run. His gait was low, his arms spread wide as he guided the ladies to their home.

It was near dusk and well past time to put the chickens up before bed. It was the first cool day of the ninth month, and he wanted to spoil the ladies with more time foraging in the dooryard.

The chicken run was a space around the coop enclosed on all sides, including the top, by wire mesh. The coop looked like a spaceship to Ansel, which was good because the ladies moved in a way that could only be described as alien to him.

Last autumn, there were six ladies, but four hadn’t survived the winter and the long wait until spring. It was a sad morning each time, but now he lavished his affection on the two remaining.

Felice and Clare didn’t have names until it was just them remaining. Then Ansel took to singing to them to cheer them up.

“Bee-dle-dee! Bee-dle-dee dee!” he sang out in his hearty Irish tenor voice. The chickens cooed at him and made their way into the coop. Ansel shut the door with a flourish and set about his evening shores in the run.

It was just him and the ladies. He’d never had a lady of his own, and wasn’t likely to have one. He was a step below a confirmed bachelor. Give it some time, he thought.

It was dark when he left the now clean run, and the stars were winking at him. His eye paused on the first one he saw and he made a wish. “I wish I weren’t so alone. I wish I had a friend or two to share my days with.”

Ansel sighed and turned away towards the house.

He woke before dawn the next day so that he could tend to his garden before he let the ladies out to forage. Gardening done, he turned to the chicken enclosure and sang out,

“Bee-dle-dee! Bee-dle-dee dee!”

He drew a breath to sing the next line form Cabaret, but instead, two other voices beat him to it. They were the voices of two ladies.

Ansel hurried towards the coop and flung open the door. There was a tangle of arms and legs inside, but they unfolded themselves easily enough and the two ladies emerged from the coop.

He turned his head away at their nakedness. “Who the hell are you?”

“Felice,” said one.

“Clare,” said the other.

“But…how?” he asked, daring to look at them.

“Your wish,” said the first voice - Felice.

“The stars command,” said Clare.