“So let me get this straight. You’re a chicken who can not only talk, but you are from a different dimension.” Will was sitting at his small kitchen table nursing a mug of hot mint tea.
“Yes,” Crimson Hen replied simply, gratefully breathing in the scents of her own mug of tea.
“And you’re not sure how you got here, but you want to get back,” said Will.
“Almost right.” Crimson took a sip of her tea and put down the mug. “I was transported here by a little floaty firework-looking thingy.”
“A little floaty firework-looking thingy?” echoed Will.
“Correct.” Crimson Hen screwed up her face in deep thought. “It came from inside an ancient archeological dig my team was working on. We found this opening, and these things floated out. They floated around us for a few days until I got up the courage to touch one. Turns out they’re portals or something to this dimension.”
“Whoa,” said Will. “There are other dimensions?”
“There must be,” said Crimson Hen, “I’m here and talking to you, am I not?”
“Well . . .,” Will seemed unsure. “I guess so, but how do you expect to get back to your own dimension?”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” she said as she picked up her mug of tea again and took a sip. “I think the trick is going to be to get back to that archeological dig, find the version of it in this dimension, and use it somehow to transport me back.”
“Right,” said Will helpfully. “So, where is the dig in your dimension?”
“Lithuania,” was Crimson’s reply.
“LIthuania,” Will repeated emptily.
“Yes, Lithuania,” said Crimson again.
“Lithuania.”
“Um, Will, you’re repeating me.” Crimson said.
“Right,” said Will sheepishly. “Sorry, I was just trying to place that word – where is that? Is that a city in Utah near where they found you?”
“No, silly,” Crimson said a little reproachfully. “It’s a country in Northern Europe.”
“What!” Will sat up a little straighter and spit out a little tea. “In Europe? Like the Europe?”
“Yes – the Europe – good croissants, better health care, you know, Europe.” “Well,” said Will after a while. “How do you suppose you’ll get all the way over to Europe? I mean, you’re a chicken and all. They’re not going to let you just get on a plane and fly over there.” Will sounded confident of this judgment, but the look on Crimson’s face made him second guess this pronouncement.
Crimson drained her cup of tea and then said, “That, my new friend, is but one of the many ideas I can think of regarding how to get to Europe. This seems like a minor inconvenience, but what’s not a minor inconvenience is that I’m fresh out of tea.” She held out her cup to Will. “Would you be a sweetheart and please put on another pot?”
The Continuing Adventures of Crimson Hen 