The Lucky Penny

The crisp wind ruffled her ginger feathers, and Fireblaze shivered -with both cold and irritation- as she walked along the sandy path glancing around anxiously at the flowering bushes in either direction.

She had known this was a bad idea- she'd just known it!

How featherbrained was it to give in to a six-year-old's pleas to go for a walk thirty minutes before an audition!

And now the said six-year-old had strayed off the path again- and what else could Fire do than stick around to find her like a responsible hen would?

"Jilly!" she called, growing more impatient by the second, "Jillz, it's not funny anymore- come out already!"

"Oh, syringes!" the arrows on her watch made Fire gasp- it was nearly three-o'clock- now that kid would surely make her miss the audition!

With another pained glance at the time Fire banged her head against her wrist in frustration. "Syringes, syringes, syringes!" She only used that word when she was really angry.

A sudden rustle cut her off and to her relief Fire glanced up to see Jilly leaping out of the bracken towards her.

"Fire!" Jilly clucked before Fire could open her beak to say anything, bouncing excitedly in front of Fire's face, "I found a lucky penny!"

She waved a small, silvery coin at Fire's eyes.

"That's a nickel," Fire stated as she managed to catch a glimpse through narrowed eyes, "And we really don't have time for-"

"It's lucky!" Jilly declared, puffing out her feathers in a way that Fire always did whenever she made a point, "That makes it a penny!"

"Whatever," Fire muttered, turning around to finally head back. Then she stopped, her feathers tensing as she realized this wasn't the route she usually walked.

Her heart quickened. With all this chasing after Jilly she must have gotten off course! Now how would she get back home- especially with an audition coming up in less than ten minutes!

"Fire," Jilly was looking up at her, calm and expectant with her tiny tail waving back and forth in anticipation. "Aren't we gonna go watch that fun show of yours?"

"About the show-" Fire sighed but was cut off with Jilly's enthusiasm.

"And I can clap and clap when you're done!" the small hen skipped to the side, plucking a small lilac off a nearby bush, "And I even picked you a flower!"

"About the show," Fire repeated as the pink lilac branch was tossed dramatically towards her in a gesture of pure admiration. "...We're probably not going."

"What?" Jilly stopped twirling around and looked up sadly with wide olive eyes. "Why?" She touched the flower's petals with an outstretched foot, "I thought you loved that fun show..."

"We're lost, Jilly! Thanks to your escapades! We have no idea where we are," Fire's wings slumped in disappointed surrender and she glanced at the ground, where Jilly was subconsciously attempting to lift the now-dusty flower with her toes, her gaze uncharacteristically somber, as if she understood her part in this predicament. Fire groaned. "We'll never get there on time if we're lost..."

Fire's cluck trailed away, her hackles prickling with unease.

Her gaze fluttered from the cars zooming by on a distant street... to the rows of fuzzy yellow bushes which replaced the trees she liked to rest under...

'Lost' was no exaggeration... she'd never been here before!

"But we're not lost," Jilly interrupted Fire's anxious thoughts, her eyes brightening as she pulled out her prized coin. "We have a lucky penny, remember?"

"Look, Jillz, I hate to break it to you," Fire huffed, "But -assuming this coin even were a penny- pennies aren't actually that lucky. It's just a superstition."

"A superpower?" Jilly gave a skip, her hopeful gaze flickering, "Like, one that can get people un-lost?"

"No, a superstition," Fire corrected, her wing-tips drooping in exasperation, "Something that's not true. Like those monsters you made up that are supposedly under your bed..?" she tried an example.

"They are too living under it!" Jilly retorted as they set off, with Fire glancing around for landmarks, "They're really nice! Well, except Harold... he acts a little like you."

Fire huffed, unsure whether to take that as an insult, but judging by the glint of admiration that still never faded from Jilly's gaze she guessed it was a compliment.

Either way there were bigger problems to worry about than being compared to an imaginary monster.