by Valarie Hunter
Emylia had Claude
since she was a toddler,
when her tiny hand fit perfectly
around his fuzzy neck.
Her older sister preferred dolls,
but Emylia had her stuffed chicken,
brown, bug-eyed, his wings
so comforting to rub and twizzle
that they developed bald patches,
his red felt comb and wattle
so enjoyable to suck on
despite Mom scolding her
for being disgusting.
Claude went everywhere with Emylia
for years—there are pictures of her
swinging with him at the park,
keeping him safe and dry at the pool,
clutching him on the first day of kindergarten,
perching him on her baby brother’s head.
But tragedy struck
at Ryan Leoni’s sixth birthday party,
when Emylia only realized Claude was missing
after she got home, her hand
so terribly empty.
Mom claimed she did her due diligence,
calling the venue and Ryan Leoni’s mother,
though later Emylia wondered if she actually had,
or if she was glad to finally part Emylia
from her ratty toy. Either way,
Claude was gone forever and
Emylia was wracked with guilt,
horrified by her negligence—
she’d had too much fun, forgotten
her responsibility, lost her best friend.
The last time she positively remembered
having Claude was in the ball pit,
and though it seemed impossible
that she’d have let go of him
there, and she was almost sure
he’d been beside her during the cake,
she had nightmares for months after
of Claude drowning in that pit,
a tiny chicken smothered
beneath so much happy plastic.
Years later, when she’s in college,
an anxious young adult pretending
to be well-adjusted, Emylia sees
emotional support chicken nuggets
at the local card store, a collection
of tiny oblong stuffies with ridiculous faces,
and she laughs and buys them,
pretending they’re Claude’s descendants,
or maybe even Claude himself,
slaughtered by her failure
but still finding his way back to her
to lend his quiet support.
Valerie Hunter teaches high school English and has an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her poems have appeared in publications including Room, Edison Literary Review, Wizards in Space, and Other Voices.