"Germey" an excerpt from "Chickens I have known"
by Kary Marsh
Germey—my poor Germey. Fifty plus years have gone by and yet I remember Germey. I ponder still my feelings for that small forlorn specimen of chickmanity. I wanted some living thing to be exclusively mine. At probably nine or ten dolls had not satisfied the missing fulfillment for me. Peculiar, glass-eyed, sawdust, cotton-stuffed unresponsive things—with an artificial crier which I removed. But Germey aroused a sympathy in me. Though his sex had not become evident, he was he to me. A post hole had been dug in our yard and no post set to fill the hole. I found Germey down in the hole in water from a recent rain. Germey had straggled around alone. He had never been happily skittering about with his siblings as the mother clucked when she found choice worms and bugs for the brood. He was banded with black and white feathers, (barred rock?) undernourished, a relative of the ugly duckling. Germey was blind and he became mine. I expected nothing from Germey. For days I followed watchfully or penned him safely. I fed and watered him. I loved him; I sorrowed over his blindness and ugliness. Then sorrow came.
Mrs. Mary Platt was our neighbor and Miss Mary had four granddaughters who came from their home in Ohio each summer. During their visit, Miss Mary brought the girls to visit us. The girls were the epitome of elegance to me. Their clothes were storybook pretty, their speech was polished, sophisticated, (pure Ohioan) their manners perfect. When the girls came on this particular summer day, I forgot Germey. When the guests had gone, Peewee and Bess found Germey. He had fallen into the creek and drowned. I wrapped his pathetic body in a towel and slept with him hoping that by keeping him warm, he would revive. Next day I buried Germey in the front yard and mourned. This may have been my first encounter with grief. After Germey was gone I consoled myself by looking into the summer night sky filled with stars and believing it was possible that Germey’s departed soul was shining in one of them.
