"I dropped some. It's on the floor. I'm sorry, chickens." He frowned at the floor and then looked up at the birds, tossing some towards the tiny ones so they could eat. He didn't want to waste the food, he wanted the tiny babies to have lots to eat. He didn't care if they weren't babies, in his head they were.

"Why do you have chickens?" He'd never stayed with people who had chickens before.

He emptied the whole scoop finally and the birds were all eating happily, wings ruffling and moving around contently. Gideon cocked his head. "Do they ever fly away?"