Amelia, as you may remember is a special kind of chicken called a Sentinel. Lefty had once said that the job of a Sentinel is to read the signs of the earth to know what has happened in the past to know better what will happen in the future to prepare or guide others. They protect us all, but not in a way that you might think. They protect us from ourselves and our poor choices. They will even give of themselves to save us from ourselves.” When Amelia meets Big Willie, she does her very best to prepare and guide him. Her heart wants very much to save him from himself and his poor choices. You can count on this: Amelia will give of her self to save him from himself and give him a brighter future outside of The Circus.
If you’ve been following for a while, you may remember The Tall Jump Rope Girl from Volume One: Into the Garden. Her life was made better by Bessie. Here in Volume Two: Over the Chimney, it will be Big Willie’s life that is made better—but it will be made better by Amelia in the exciting conclusion to her adventure.
As it became lighter in the bird tent the next morning, Amelia began to see more clearly the birds she had only learned about in the dark of the night before. Most were older birds. Some appeared to have never fully recovered from a molt, which was especially troubling to Amelia with the colder weather soon on its way.
Although she had been warned many times by Gracie and the others about never letting people know she could speak the language of people, in the sudden alarm of being captured, she had made that mistake the night before.
She wondered if her speaking was what had kept her from being immediately thrown into the stew pot. A talking chicken would definitely be a great circus attraction and give her great stardom, but that was not the right life for her. It was not even the right life for someone like Pearl who genuinely wanted stardom and all of the great things that went with it.
Amelia watched as the circus worker named Big Willy went from cage to cage, removing the old straw and replacing it with fresh. She watched as he rinsed the water containers and food dispensers and then set them aside carefully to dry. Most of all, she noticed how softly he spoke to the birds in their cages.
They were not afraid of him. Instead, they came right to him. He had seemed so big and powerful the night before as he stood by the door of the bird tent when Teeny Clotilda had taken her to this other tent with all the other birds.
Big Willy was especially careful when tending to the hens in the larger cage beside Amelia’s. He lifted each to see if she had laid an egg, and when there was none, he kissed them on the top of their heads and whispered, “It’s okay. Maybe tomorrow. Don’t worry.”
Amelia watched as the hens first looked at Big Willy with affectionate sadness for not being able to give him an egg, and then looked at him with gratitude for their two overflowing scoops of scratch and feed.
He sat down in front of Amelia’s cage, and she began to examine the worn-down heels and scuff marks of his untied shoes. They surely told the story of his life.
“Good morning. My name is Amelia,” she said without realizing she was again giving away her greatest secret, her true identity, and that might endanger Emily. Somehow she knew she could trust this man whose feet seemed as big as watermelons.
“You is the talking chicken, isn’t you?”
“I am. But if you don’t mind, just call me Mayflower. You will keep someone I love very much safe.”
“I keeps all of these here birds safe, so I reckon I can keep you and your friend safe. Is she a talking chicken like you?”
“She is.”
“That is just purely delightful,” he said. “I am quite good at keeping secrets, just like you is.”
“Now that you know some of my secrets,” said Amelia, “what are some of your secrets?”
Immediately, she realized how this was not a good question to ask. It would have been so easy to take advantage of Big Willy. She would rather not do that. She had a feeling that he had been taken advantage of enough in his life.
If you are thinking that maybe Amelia would have no second thoughts about taking advantage of Professor Accipiter, you’d be completely correct!
“I am sorry,” she said. “I should mind my own business and not stick my beak into your business.”
“It’s okay,” he said, shrugging off what others would have considered prying into private matters best left personal. “My biggest secret ain’t no secret at all. Everybody knows it. I is stupid. I is so stupid, that I can’t even tie my own shoes.” He pointed down to his big, untied shoes. “See?”
“So, what do you do?” asked Amelia.
“Sometimes, the Cotton Candy Girl or the Lemonade Boy will tie them for me. If they ties them good and tight and if I is careful, those ties will last as long as two days. It’s no good when your shoes ain’t tied, ’cause you can do the trips and falls.”
“Mr. Willy, sir. You have—”
“What you calling me ‘Mr. Willy, sir’ for?”
Amelia watched as his face changed to look as if he were going to cry. She thought she had hurt his feelings.
“Ain’t nobody ever called me that before. Not in all my grown-up days. And now you, a chicken, is doing exactfully that.”
“Mr. Willy, sir. You have been so good to these birds here. I would like to do something good for you.”
“Does you know how to tie shoes?”
“I do.”
“Well, imagine that! It is as much a miracle as you being able to talk people talk.”
“I can not tie your shoes for you because I do not have hands like you do, but I can teach you how to tie them for yourself with your own two hands. And you will not need to rely on anyone to tie your shoes again. Someone taught me how it is done quite some time ago because I thought shoestrings were worms.”
“You don’t say!” said Big Willy with a smile in his voice.
“I guess I was stupid too,” said Amelia, and then they both had a good laugh together.
“We can take it just a little at a time because I don’t want you to get in trouble for not getting all of your work done. But I will teach you.”
“I will give you extra food every day for payments—even if it turns out I’m too stupid to learn from you.”
“Don’t do that. Give extra to the ones who need it the most. That will make me happier, just as happy as seeing you walking along with nicely tied shoes.”
They heard Professor Accipiter outside the tent giving some directions to the clowns, who didn’t seem eager to do what he wanted, and Big Willy quickly moved around to the rest of the cages and continued with his chores.
Professor Accipiter came in when Willy was on his hands and knees tending to the pigeon he had named Peggy. From what Amelia heard Willy say, she had been feeling ill for several days.
“Sweet Peggy, you just gots to perk up. You know that Teeny Clotilda, The Cook, has her eye set on you.” He watched as Peggy shut her eyes tightly.
Amelia heard Peggy call out in alarm, “Behind you!”
Just then, Professor Accipiter raised and brought his walking cane down sharply across Willy’s back. The blow was so hard that he lost his balance.
Peggy cowered in her corner, turning over her water bottle and food.
“Getting lazy now, aren’t you?” said the Professor. “You are the worst Useless Eejit that has ever been. I will be back in ten minutes. Everyone and everything had better be right.”
As soon as the Professor was gone, Willy hurried to replenish Peggy’s water and food, and afterwards, he slowly stroked the feathers on her back.
He went over to Amelia's cage and whispered, "Don't you be scared none. It don't hurt as much as he makes it look. That is all mostly for show, so the birds will be afraid. He wants birds to wonder what he would do to a helpless little bird if he would do meanness and mischief to a big, strong person like me?"
Big Willy was standing at attention by the door of the tent when the Professor returned. He walked slowly around the bird tent, surveying everything.
“Go and help The Clowns,” he said at last, and Big Willy obediently hurried outside.
Professor Accipiter stepped slowly and confidently towards Amelia, never letting his eyes stray from hers. She returned his stare, never blinking.
“I would like a perch outside where I can feel the sun and smell the river,” she said.
“Well, aren’t you just the queen of the whole circus,” he laughed and brought his cane squarely down on Amelia’s cage. The other birds flapped their wings and called out in alarm, but Amelia did not. She would not let anyone see she was afraid.
“You need me, you grotty little man,” Amelia said.
“Little? I am taller than that Eejit, Big Willy.”
“You are the idiot, not that other man. You have a very small teeny, tiny brain.”
“Oh, do I now? Big Willy can’t even tie his shoes. Did you see that? At least I can know enough to tie my own shoes. He would be nothing if The Circus and I hadn’t taken him in.”
“But you can’t tie a nice ribbon around a stack of cash, can you? I can help you bring in more money than you have ever seen before. And how can I do that? Because I understand people. I have studied them and know what things they enjoy. You are a person, and you don’t even understand yourself.”
The Professor was stunned by Amelia’s boldness.
“Take me outside. I need to excise a little. While exercising, I will be able to see what you are doing wrong. I will come up with a circus act that people will pay to see. I know people and what they want. I’m smart that way.”
“You are merely looking for a way to fly back to your home there on the river. But I know where your tree with The Barn Owls is. I will track you down and drag you back here.”
“If you like, put that chain and lock on my foot again,” she said, sounding quite bored. “What do I care if your bank account is empty?”
Once The Professor had carried her outside, Amelia looked around and watched intently what was going on in the camp. The Creepy Clown Guy was blowing up some balloons and tying strings to them. She studied how the balloons moved.
She watched as Teeny Clotilda began setting up the treat booths. For most of them, she had to stand on tiptoes to be able to see over them. Once she had them set up, she called the Cotton Candy Girl and the Lemonade Boy over with the other runaways and assigned booths to them.
Amelia clucked until The Professor came over to her.
“Would you mind if I flew around just a little. You can leave the band and chain on my leg. I won’t try to take them off or get away. You are smarter than me, and I know when I am beaten.”
He nodded suspiciously and said, “Go ahead.”
After a few minutes of flying in circles tethered by the shackle and chain, Amelia landed back on the metal perch. “Here is what you should do. Fill some balloons and draw a chicken face on them. Two eyes, a beak, a comb, and wattles. Replace this chain with a ribbon so that I can fly around like a balloon. Give me and the balloons to Big Willy. He will sell more balloons that way, especially if you call them “Chick-a-loons.”
“Go on,” said The Professor. “I like where this idea of your is going—to the bank!”
“Then I can fly around and pop a few balloons with my beak. Out will come something called confetti with free tickets and coupons. Those will have things written on them like “Free ticket—Next Show Only,” and “Popcorn—Buy One, Get One Free.”
“How can I make money by giving things away?”asked the Professor.
“I told you I know people. People love getting free things. Getting free things has a way of putting people in a good mood. People in a good mood are more likely to part with what they value. Surely you know that. You get free gourmet treats from your—.”
“Enough!” said The Professor, and then in a low, menacing whisper, he added “Don’t you ever say anything about what is in my cabinet ever again.”
“You need not worry. I am very good at keeping secrets—” said Amelia, “to get what I want.”
“So what do you want in return for helping me? But don’t be too greedy. Remember I already have the plan you just told me to use.”
“I want star status without having to be a star. I am a worthless performer except when it comes to thinking up brilliant ideas. I do crave roasted pumpkin seeds and shelled sunflower kernels. So a special diet would be ideal. And I would really like a personal butler, someone like Big Willy. Surely you have a tuxedo you can fit him into without him ripping it to sheds because he is too lumpy in all the wrong places.”
“He is a buffoon, and you have quite a wickedly humiliating sense of humor, Miss Mayflower. You truly do.”
“Mr. Professor Accipiter, sir, you have no idea about what is in my mind and in my heart or what they can do together—especially when it comes to being wickedly humiliating,” said Amelia as she began to laugh. “Not even the slightest inkling of an idea at all.”
She was looking at Big Willie as he was getting a horrible milkshake machine spill under control, but she was laughing at Professor Accipiter who had absolutely nothing under control, not even himself.
They stood there in the center of the circus grounds together, Amelia on her perch with The Professor leaning over her, eye-to-eye and nose-to-beak.
It was then that Amelia realized The Professor was her audience just as she and the other chickens had been Pearl’s Comedy Show audience. Amelia was held captive by her leg shackle and chain, but The Professor’s greed made him just as captive to her words as Pearl’s jokes had made the chickens captive to her performance.
“You need to give something away for free. A treat or something else that is enjoyable and puts people in a good mood before they even enter the big tent. Syrupy sweet popcorn balls would perfect for that since they are inexpensive to make.
“Yes, syrupy sweetness will cover the taste of stale popcorn,” said the Professor. “I will be giving away what The Clowns normally throw away or what The Rat makes The Field Mice collect up off of the floor under the tent. The syrup will help hide their little bite marks.”
“Then after they have paid for a ticket to get in, they will see tickets with writing on them in the balloons. At some time, each balloon is going to pop and when it does, people will read what is on the ticket. Some people might even pop the balloon just to see what the ticket says.
“And what will the tickets say?”
“The tickets will say things like ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ or ‘Free Admission to Circus Tomorrow Night.’ The most important word is ‘Free’ because people like to get free things. The next most significant word is ‘Tomorrow’ because people will need to buy a ticket to come back again and get their free things. Then, while they are waiting, for tomorrow to arrive, they will tell all of their friends, and those people will pay to visit The Circus to see for themselves while hoping to get lucky with free stuff. Try it, and you will see what I mean.”
Until Next Week…
In this chapter, Amelia made a connection with a person who she will help and who will help her as well. In our next chapter, Pearl will do the same with another favorite character, The Bottle Cap Lady.
If there is a lesson here that both Amelia and Pearl have to teach us its simply this:
When you are at your lowest point and things feel as if your life can’t become any worse, don’t take a dust bath in tragedy. Help someone else up and that will bring triumph to both of you!
Before we go and without giving away too much, be ready for one of the best ironic twists ever in the novel’s conclusion. We have been saving it, but here is a hint: The twist involves Big Willie and The Bottle Cap Lady.
Thank you for reading!
John, Gracie, Bessie, Blanche, Pearl, Emily, and Amelia
There's no button for claps here, unlike on Medium, but I'd give you more than 50.
smart chickens arise!