It was now mid October and I'd been in Litchfield for well over a month. Another Sunday came round surprisingly quick and I said I would meet Piper by the tree on the track field so we could read together. I always loved reading outdoors in the fresh air.
I carried my book, today I was reading Anne of Green Gables, a favourite book from my childhood. I tucked it underneath my arm as i carried my hot coffee towards where Piper was sitting. She had unwrapped her breakfast bar and was already nibbling on it when I got to her. Panting, I sighed as i sat down.
"Jeez, Pipes. That walk is a little bit too long for my liking" I said trying to catch my breath.
"Which is why you need to exercise more Jane" she shrugged her shoulders as she finished her last mouthful and went to reach for her plastic coffee mug.
The frost covered the ground around us, I took my jacket off and put it under my bum so it didn't get wet. I leant against the tree, put my reading glasses on and started to get lost in the imaginary world of green gables. We must have been sat there for a while when we heard clucking next to us. Piper and I turned our heads in disbelief.
"What the fuck?" I muttered. There's a chicken, a real chicken with feathers pecking the grass next to us. "You're seeing this too right? I'm not going crazy am I?"
"Nope, I see it too" Piper said blinking twice.
Piper and I headed inside, shred ourselves of the wrapped up layers we put on to keep warm whilst we were outside and made our way to the TV room. I made a beeline to sit with Norma, Gina and Lorna. Piper hesitated at the door when she saw Alex sat near the television but I dragged her to sit down in the chair next to me. Gina was knitting something and before I could open my mouth to ask her what it was, she slid her chair outwards and stormed across the room to a free table by herself.
"What? Do I smell?" I asked the others at the table
"No, she's just in the zone" Lorna comforted. "How's your Sunday?" She asked us both.
"Pretty nice so far. We were outside. It is so beautiful up here in the fall" Piper responded
"Oh, yeah, sure. I got myself incarcerated just so I could see the changing colours" Lorna said sarcastically looking at Piper.
"I'm serious. I think I need to be outside more. It was a little cold but lovely. I had my tea, it was almost hot. I had my book, it was almost good. And we, Jane and I, saw a chicken" Lorna face grew serious and her eyes went wide but Piper just continued "How random is that?" Norma and Lorna looked at each other. "What?"
"You saw a chicken? Like, a real life chicken in the flesh?" Lorna furrowed her brows and leant closer to us.
"Well, it was covered in feathers" I said. Lorna sighed "What's going on?"
"You need to talk to Red" Lorna said to us.
We found ourselves standing in the kitchen. Explaining the chicken situation to Red.
"You're sure it was a chicken?" Red asked for the third time. "Not a pigeon? What about a quail or..a pheasant?" Piper and I shook our heads.
"It was a chicken. I know what a chicken looks like" Piper stuttered out. "I don't...What's the big deal?" She asked turning to look at the small Italian lady behind her.
Red took her glasses off as Gina answered "There are no chickens around here. Except for one"
Lorna, who was stood behind me, rested a hand on my shoulder "They say she lived on a farm near here. Till one night, the night before all the other chickens were slaughtered, she escaped. She's been out there ever since. Living off the land. Living on her wits"
"Hey, what's going on?" Nicky entered the kitchen and stood next to me.
"The chicken's back" answered Gina with a grin.
"Oh, give me break" Nicky rolled her eyes. "Mom, there is no chicken"
"You're wrong" the russian. "They saw it"
"Oh really?" Nicky raised her eyebrows at Piper and I. "How'd it get over the fence?"
"I don't know" I shrugged "But it was there"
"Chickens don't fly. It was probably a spruce grouse" Nicky retorted.
"No it was her. I saw it in a dream" Red said back to Nicky. Looking to us with a wild look in her eye. Nicky made a quick escape and left the kitchen. "She came to me. Already dressed in herbs, and a little top hat. It was tilted to one side. And she said 'Soon, Red, we will be together. Soon I will be yours.' No more processed chicken that tastes like wet paper. Real chicken Kiev" Red licked her lips "First girl to bag that bird gets a box of Biore strips."
Everyone quickly rushed out the kitchen. I sighed, this is definitely getting out of hand. I wish I had gone with Nicky. I didn't want to run around the yard trying to find some chicken that might not be real.
After work a small group of us decided to do yoga in the common room.
"All right, extend that rear leg" Jones, who's first name I learnt is Erica, told the class. "Challenge yourselves, but don't forget to breathe"
"What do I do with my arms?" DeMarco asked
"Extend the arms" Jones replied getting into the pose. The rest of the class copied her actions. Just as we were relaxing our bodies into a stretch, some more inmates came into the room to hold some sort of a meeting. I recognised them from the AA meetings I attend when I feel myself slipping "Excuse me. What's happening?"
"We got AA" Rosa replied for the whole group.
"No, not right now you don't. We're doing yoga this is our time" Erica objected.
"Well, they sent us here 'cause the chapel is wrecked" Suzanne 'Crazy Eyes' Warren spoke up. "Now, don't worry. You just keep on doing what you're doing"
We all heard what happened in the chapel, apparently Tiffany Doggett got over excited about it being Sunday and decided to try to use her religious freedom to put up a huge cross on the alter, causing the ceiling to falling down.
"Yeah, let's see one of these downward facing doggie styles" Nicky said, sitting on her chair back to front, so she was facing Lorna and winked her. Lorna pulled a disgusted face at her before turning back to the front of the class. Something has clearly happened there, usually they're over friendly with each other. Always touching and what - not. "Hey your ladyship, Miss Grey over there. I didn't know you did Yoga. You coming over here to join the AA meeting?"
"No I'm good over here. Plus I can do both right?" I replied with my back facing her going back into the pose.
"This is unacceptable. Norma, take over for me. I'm getting Caputo" Erica told the class and stormed off to Caputo's office.
Piper ended up getting frustrated at Alex being there and moved to the other side of the room.
"...He's got barbecue all over his face and he's dead" Taystee managed to get the words out. I was facing them sitting of the floor crying from the story. It sound similar to when I hit rock bottom. Why does it always take someone to die or get seriously hurt before you realise what you are doing is wrong? Except I was driving a car with heroine and alcohol in my system, I managed to crash the car and a friend lost a leg because of it. Obviously the police and ambulance came and I was arrested, taken to hospital whilst waiting for trial. That's how I ended up here, and so I've been sober for about 10 months.
"Almost the exact same thing happened to me, but it was tuna salad" Suzanne said. Nobody took any notice. I wiped my eyes and stood up facing Jones and she cooled down the class. I felt peaceful whilst doing the yoga stretches, it felt good to move my body and exercise a little. Piper suddenly came out of the pose and rolled up her yoga mat, telling the instructor she had done for the day.
The next morning I saw Piper running across the yard, I decided to follow her to the tobacco shack on the outskirts of the prison. We both stopped and saw the chicken. It looked so beautiful, but how it got to the other side of the fence - I guess we'll never know.
