Farm Girl
Still reading this Margaret Atwood collection and the two stories I read yesterday were about the character, Nell, trying to adjust to living on a dilapidated farm. Her boyfriend, Tig, keeps bringing more and more animals to their place. First, it's chickens. Then a peacock and his mate. Then four cows and three lambs and a blue-tick bloodhound named Howl and a cat who multiplies into many many other cats and the last story I read was called "White Horse;" about a stumpy, asthmatic white horse who coughs when Nell rides her. The thing about farm animals is that they serve a purpose and the purpose is not to be pets or companions. Mostly, the purpose is for food. Nell has to accept this and in the meantime, there are all sorts of gruesome deaths and mishaps. The peahen accidentally hangs herself on the clothes line and her mate goes mad with grief, killing off a bunch of hapless chickens. Tig and Nell try to hatch chicks using warm light bulbs but something is off and when...