Killing Chickens http://meredithhall.org/map/excerpt/

      A newly divorced mother of two is coming to terms with having to run a farm and handle everyday life on new terms. She must kill chickens for the first time and really doesn't have her heart into it because her heart has recently been torn apart. Her kids Alex, ten and Benjamin who is seven  wonder what is going to happen but do their very best to keep mom in high spirits. It is her thirty eighth  birthday and her once beautiful home in Maine now becomes somewhat dismal. She must take the lives of her once beloved chickens but can't do it without breaking down each time. She wants to be alone with her kids, so no calls to family or friends on this birthday, just the three of them because that is how it is going to be from now on. She feels like someone else, her hands have become a killers. Tomorrow is a new day and she knows she must and will make this work but the solitude must end.