Sunday, 6 December 2009

Three Minutes

Henrietta blinked in the suffocating darkness. The noise of the others around her made her own cries indistinguishable and all the more desperate as she struggled in vain to make herself heard. She had been there three days although day and night had become meaningless in this constant darkness; waking and sleeping had merged into one endless nightmare.

The tiny cage that held her prevented her from spreading her wings and standing up meant she hit the floor of the cage above her. She was forced to sit and since she could not move to preen herself, she sat in her own filth.

Why was she here? What terrible sin had she commited that meant she had to live, work and die in this awful place?

Overwhelmed by the heat, denuded of the feathers of which she had once been so proud, Henrietta lay gasping for air.

Three minutes later she was dead.

In a bright and airy kitchen James set his timer.

Three minutes later he enjoyed his cheap, boiled egg.


More tomorrow...

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