The girls resided in the large coop on the east end of the farm. There were forty-five hens laying now, but they were sectioned into small groups by barriers made from old screen doors and windows. There was enough room for quite a few more birds, but making sure the animals had plenty of space was one of the key tenets of commune farming. One particularly arrogant rooster named Shakespeare made long strides along a run that spanned the length of the coop. There was another rooster, as well, but he was an old man and spent little time checking up on his ladies these days.
Sophie filled her straw-lined baskets with fresh eggs before feeding everyone. She was thankful that she didn’t have to do a full coop cleaning today; she never felt decontaminated until two or three showers later, and she would have little time to get ready for the Festival as it was. Only on the days that she and Sparrow had coop duty together did Sophie attempt to clean, and she suspected that Sparrow had changed up her study schedule that week specifically to spare Sophie and herself from having to do it today. Sophie smiled as she gathered the eggs. Sparrow was so much like Wren sometimes that she had to forcefully remind herself not to divulge secrets to her in the same way she did her old friend.
Once the coop was taken care of, Sophie juggled all four baskets into place on her arms and walked back to the house to deliver the eggs. There were half a dozen people in the large kitchen, and they gave a collective sigh of relief when she came in. After listening to their chastising remarks about being late and inhaling the hot starchy air with a patient smile fixed across her face, Sophie hurriedly went to kiss her Gram, who was busy kneading a shapeless lump of white dough.
The white-haired woman, who was actually Hollis’s grandmother, received the peck on the cheek with pleasure and returned it with a sly wink. “Escape now, before they begin the next batch.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Sophie had never second-guessed the old lady, and she wasn’t going to start now. The kitchen crew on baking day had a nasty reputation of enlisting anyone foolish enough to hang around with no apparent occupation. She made a break for the back door and the rest of her chores.