„I decided to become a chicken!“
Rachel grins a bit. Thinking about the exciting life as a farm bird for a week is one thing, but speaking it out loud in front of someone else suddenly felt so weird.
Jennifer reacts as if this would be the most normal thing in the world. She fills out a paper while asking her back “Any special deals?”
“I want to take that special offer of your catalogue… for 20% off… ‘hen-weeks’ or ‘chicken-weeks’ or something like that.” Rachel looks around if there’s a catalogue, but it’s not necessary, because Jennifer nods knowingly.
“Oh, yes you mean our “poultry power weeks”. One week “community accommodation” in our common coops. Yeah, that’s a good choice, Mam."
Jennifer scribbles some more notes on her paper. “Alright… next I’d need your agreement, that every animal product will get into our possession. Referring to chickens, we’re talking mainly about eggs of course.”
Rachel chuckled a bit. “I agree… as long as you don’t mean chicken meat as a product”.
“No, of course not, Mam! We won’t sell our guests! And we even guarantee a well-guarded coop with cameras, completely free from any predators! But I have to admit, if you decide to stay a chicken we can't guarantee a special treating”
Rachel nods with a nervous grin. “Yeah, I hope so, I was just kidding. I do not intend to stay a chicken. Next week I have an important business meeting, so it would be inconvenient if I am there as a chicken”.
Jennifer smiles again and makes a check on her paper. “That would indeed be unfavorable. Do you want some extra food, Mam?”
“What do you mean by ‘extra food’ ?”
Jennifer remarks “Well, that special offer will contain lodging in our common coop, which involves the normal feeding together with our ordinary poultry. And some guests don’t want to fight for every corn with others. So they get their extra feeding.
Rachel thinks for a brief moment. “Well, no, that’s not necessary for me – I want to keep it cheap.”
Jennifer nods and makes another notice on the paper.
“Okay, Mam – then I need a sign there… and there… I will fetch the bottle for your transformation meanwhile. “
Rachel takes a short look before she signs the contract. Jennifer then reaches into a refrigerator on the wall behind her and pulls out a plastic bottle. When she puts it on the counter, Rachel notices it has a label with a feather and a silhouette of a chicken in the background pictured on it.
“Okay then,” Jennifer began, “please take this with you and head to one of the rooms down this hall that has the same symbol on it. Once inside, remove your clothes and your backpack and put it in one of the bins in there before drinking the bottle. After the transformation is complete, just wait a bit. One of our farmhands will be on his way to bring you right to your new home.
We wish you a convenient stay here and wonderful new impressions !”
“Thank you !” Rachel smiles and takes the bottle, before she heads down the hall Jennifer pointed out. Plenty of doors can be seen there, all with different symbols. A mixture of excitement and tension slowly grows when she finally sees the symbol for the farm bird section and enters the door.
“Here we go !”… Rachel shuts the door behind looks around. The transformation room was clearly not meant for a longer stay. Some hay with single poultry feather lay on the ground and the wooden bench at the side hasn’t been cleaned of bird manure for a while. “Next time I will invest a bit more money” Rachel thinks to herself, before she tries to find a clean spot on the bench, striping off her clothes and putting everything into one of the bins like she was told.
Then she grabs the bottle with the liquid and opens it.
“Holidays, here I come !”… With one brave gulp she empties the bottle completely… now all she could do is to wait until the transformation would start.