Chickens and a Garden

Soon spring came, and we took full advantage of our big courtyard as we played outside. My father bought me a new red dress - a color which I did not like - so I shortened it and dressed my little sister Yolanda in it. As soon as she entered the courtyard our rooster jumped on her. She screamed so loud that even the rooster left her alone. We had some chickens, and it was amazing to see how baby chicks would walk out of the cracking eggshells which they laid. It was like a toy for us, and whenever we touched those small chicks the mother hen would give us an angry look.

We only lived a short time and Arany-Yanos sixteen. The house we rented had an orchard and vegetable garden which the owner cultivated. It was surrounded by a high wooden fence which we mischievously climbed over, roamed about the garden and damaged the produce. The owner was quite angry and showed us the way out.

Soon enough my father found another house to rent on the same street, at number sixty-three. Here we have more Jewish neighbors close by and the gentile neighbors were also friendlier. I had quite a few friends here, but also had an anti-semitic boy about my age who teased me because of I was Jewish. I teased him back - the outcome was that we had some fights!

© David Muskal, 2001