cow goes moo

[thedreamthief]

While Ronan has long cultivated and enjoyed an outward appearance and style choice meant to intimidate, discomfit, and frighten, he finds that, when it comes to assuring the staff of Darrow's Home for Children that he is, in fact, a responsible adult with no ill intentions, it's not the most appropriate.

Luckily, they have his name on a list in the system and after Ronan reluctantly hands over his ID and, sneering, signs a half a dozen forms, Jack's allowed out with him.

There's a curfew, of course, and he has to promise to keep his fucking cellphone turned on at all times, but it's a small price to pay when he spots the kid and his familiar wide smile. Ronan drives him back to Hywel in the Pig, stopping briefly for a shake at one of those drive-in fast food joints that bring the shit straight out to the car, just because he thinks it might be something Jack would get a kick out of.

Ronan's still working on his when he pulls up to the factory. As far as he knows, it should be empty for a change, unless Gansey's taken a break from his stint at the library. He knows Adam will be at work, and Noah too, probably. He's never sure about Blue, but he hardly sees her anyway so the chances are good she won't be around.

For the best, he thinks. He's not too sure what any one of them would think about Ronan bring a kid home for the afternoon.

"When you get out you gotta slam the door really hard," he tells Jack as he cuts the engine and undoes his belt. "Like, as hard as you can. Got me?"

Comments

[37hours]

Ronan uses some big words again, like unfertilized. I know what fertilizer is because I learned it from the gardener who helps water and cut the grass and bushes at the Home. He used fertilizer one time, he says most of the time you only use it in spring because that's when things just start to grow, but he needed to use it one time in the fall because we didn't get lots of rain this year. So I think fertilizer is something that helps things grow, but I didn't know that you could use it on not plants.

So maybe if you don't use fertilizer for eggs then no chicks grow and then it can just be food. I think that makes sense because if not then people have to guess if eggs have chicks in them or not and that's really sad if you guess wrong. I want to ask Ronan more and tell him yes I want some eggs but then he tells me about what the chickens eat! That's important because I want to know how to feed them and make them happy.

But Ronan says something that sounds really crazy!

"Chickens eat... chicken?" I ask. My eyes are so big right now because that doesn't sound okay! "Are they going to eat each other? That's scary! I don't want them to eat each other, they should all be friends and they can help each other with their eggs."

[thedreamthief]

Jack's reaction is priceless, his eyes going huge and round and Ronan laughs a little as he reaches out to give Jack's arm a light, reassuring squeeze.

"Not like that," he says, feeling a slight pang of guilt. Jack's a sweet kid, innocent and warm in that way so like Matthew. "It's chopped up first. Like the chicken you buy at the store, the stuff your mom makes for dinner. That kind of chicken. They won't eat each other, I promise."

He turns his head then to smile at Grumpy who only blinks her beady little eyes at him as he lightly brushes a finger along the top of her head. "They're not always nice to each other though. Have you ever heard the term 'pecking order?' It comes from these guys. They peck and bully each other, especially the smallest, quietest one. In this group, that's Grumpy here. Sometimes I have to separate her from the others so they don't hurt her."

He gives a quiet sort of smirk then. "Chickens are assholes sometimes."

[37hours]

I rub at my eyes a little bit because it's really weird stuff to think about and makes my head feel weird. Even if the chicken isn't eating the other chickens it lives with, it's still kind of weird that chicken eats chicken. Like cows eat grass and horses eat carrots. I didn't know that some stuff eats the same stuff that it is.

"I never heard pecking order before... but that makes me sad," I tell Ronan. I walk over to Grumpy and pet her really carefully, I think I want to give her the most love because the other chickens are mean. "I wish we could teach the chickens to be nice to eat other, things are a lot better when we're all nice. But sometimes, sometimes there are kids at the Home that make fun of me too. I'm smaller than the other kids who are five, and, and they say that boys shouldn't have long hair."

I make an angry face. "They're wrong, boys can have long hair if they want." I sigh then I look up at Ronan. "Why do chickens eat chickens if they have the other stuff? Are there other things that eat the things that they are? Do people ever eat people?"

[thedreamthief]

Grumpy turns her little when Jack runs a careful hand down her back and Ronan adjusts his hold on her a little when she starts to squirm just a little, though she seems to get pretty comfortable after another minute. His smile falters a bit when Jack expresses concern over the pecking order, but he keeps quiet, not speaking until it seems like Jack's about to panic a little.

"Chickens are omnivores," Ronan tries to explain. "Which means they eat both meats and veggies, but really they'll eat just about anything you put in front of them. Cows and goats are herbivores, so the only eat vegetables and grains and things like that. Pigs are omnivores too, just like chickens and, you guessed, it they can eat pig. Technically, people can eat people," Ronan adds, a bit worried about how much detail he should get into here as he doesn't exactly want to give the kid nightmares. He screws his nose up a bit in a look of distaste before adding, "But I wouldn't recommend it."

He shuffles Grumpy in his arm again then before softening his tone a bit as he reaches up to lightly rest his hand on Jack's shoulder.

"But you're right. Boys can have long hair. Hell, they can have any kind of hair they'd like." He considers a moment, eyes narrowing. "Those don't beat up on you, do they?"

[37hours]

These are big words, but they're all a little bit the same so that will make them easier to remember. Omnivore. Herbivore. I guess herbs are kind of like vegetables, Grandma uses herbs when she cooks food and they're always plants and stuff. So maybe that's how I can remember herbivore. I don't know what vore means but I guess it's like when you're something that eats. That way herbivore's like vegetable eater.

Words are weird. Sometimes even if you have other words that have the right meaning, there's still another word to show that same meaning. I don't know why but I still want to know all of the words that I can.

"I never want to eat people. I like eating meat but sometimes I feel bad about that too because like... if I know animals that make meat and they're really nice then I feel bad to eat them. Like it's gonna be different to eat chicken after knowing Grumpy," I tell Ronan and I still pet Grumpy some more, I think she needs all the love. "But eating people is extra gross, I don't want to eat what I am."

I look up when Ronan's hand is on my shoulder. "No, um, no boys are beating me up," I tell him. I know what beating up is like because Old Nick used to do that to Ma, I don't have anything like that in the Home. "Sometimes they chase me with scissors but that's all, I don't think they actually will cut my hair, they'd get in big trouble."