H - Hen #AtoZChallenge

My A to Z Challenge: Micro fiction, using 300 words or less, inspired by selected words along with a photo for inspiration. The words were chosen in reverse order from this lesson plan page.
(For example, for the letter A it was the 26th word on the list, for Z it was the 1st word on the list)

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DB McNicol

Jake pushed the cleaning cart into the hallway, pulled the ancient bucket out of the closet and dropped the new mop inside. He added cleaning solution and moved to the men's room for water. This was his second job, times were tough for everyone in small, rural towns.

He plugged in his earbuds, selected his favorite playlist and went to work, lost in the music. Methodically he worked from the back of the store to the front, mopping and picking up trash. He wasn't expected to return things to where they belonged but his father had always told him to do more than expected and good things would come to him. Thus he took the extra time to put things back to their proper locations.

He was almost done when he heard an unusual sound. Pulling out one earbud, he stopped to listen. Nothing. He shrugged and started to the back of the store when he heard it again. It was louder and this time when he stopped the music on his phone it continued.

"What the heck?" he muttered as he tried to determine where the squawking was coming from. "Maybe the peeps are awake?" He walked in that direction, his head turning from side to side as he passed each aisle.

When he reached the tubs fulls of tiny peeps, they were all sound asleep. A loud squawk sounded overhead and he looked up. There sat two big angry looking hens - metal hens. He jumped back as their beady eyes stared at him. He knew they belonged in the house decor aisle but he was darned if he was going to touch them.

They continued squawking and he backed away. Shaking his head, he put the cleaning stuff away and headed home. "I think I've been working too hard."