The Golden Eggs That Feed on Blood

After my father died, the hen in our yard suddenly started laying golden eggs.

The gold egg sat on the table, bright and gleaming.

So bright it nearly blinded me.

But my mother stared at my father's memorial photo, weeping as she spoke.

"Your old man knew how poor we were. He couldn't stand the thought of me suffering here alone."

"Last night he came to me in a dream, on purpose, and sent this hen that lays golden eggs."

"He said it plain: whichever child treats me best, that's who gets to keep the hen!"

My brother and I glanced at each other, the excitement plain on both our faces.

Back when we were paying for my father's treatment, the family had run up a mountain of debt.

The kids' tuition and next month's grocery money still had nowhere to come from.

If we could have that hen, every one of those problems would sort itself out.

I was about to step forward and speak my piece when I heard the old ox in the yard low and open its mouth.

"Foolish boy, don't believe her."

"That's no golden egg. That's money to buy a life."

"The old woman wants to trade away your years so she can stretch out her own!"

1.

In the time it took me to freeze up, my brother Quinn Gray had already dropped to his knees.

He knocked his head against the floor three times, hard.

"Ma, how can you say a thing like that? Isn't it only right and natural to be good to you?"

"You doted on me since I was little. Even without this golden egg, I'd owe you everything anyway."

My mother nodded, satisfied, and turned her eyes to me.

"And you, oldest? What do you say?"

I hadn't found my voice yet before Quinn cut in ahead of me.

"Big brother's heart is set on the city. He looks down on country folks like us."

"Not long ago I heard him on the phone with his wife, saying he wanted to take the kids and move away."

"Ma, his mind left this place a long time ago. When it comes to caring for you in old age, you'll have to count on me and my wife."

As he spoke, Quinn poured a cup of hot tea.

He blew on it and pressed it eagerly into my mother's hands.

"I'm not the kind of man who forgets a kindness."

"You've been good to me, and I'll wait on you hand and foot till the day I die!"

The stiffness in my mother's face eased.

She took the golden egg from the table and placed it in Quinn's hand.

"My second boy really does have a heart. This first golden egg goes to you."

"The rest depends on how the two of you carry yourselves from here on."

The heavy golden egg glittered in the sun.

Quinn bit into it and grinned so wide his mouth wouldn't close.

"Must be fifty grams. That's worth a fortune."

"Ma, you just wait. I'll go cook right now, that braised pork hock you love best!"

A fifty-gram gold egg, at today's prices, was worth at least fifty thousand.

That was what Nadia and I earned breaking our backs on the construction site for the better part of a year.

I stamped my foot in regret.

I wanted to step up and explain, but that heavy, aged voice came again in my ear.

"Don't! That golden egg is meant to buy a life. Whoever takes it has to die."

"You just clawed your own life back. Don't throw it away now!"

My raised foot hung in the air.

I froze in place again.

This time she didn't wait for me to say another word.

My mother impatiently shooed me out.

On my way out, she made sure to add one more thing.

"Oldest, I know you're the scheming type, but take my advice and don't get any funny ideas."

"The secret to making the hen lay golden eggs is known to me alone. Steal the hen and it won't do you any good!"

Her words left my face burning, red with anger.

They say the old always favor the youngest.

My parents were both honest, decent people, but they weren't above it either.

All these years it was my wife Nadia and I who put in the most money and the most work.

Yet in my mother's heart, we could never match my smooth-talking brother and his wife.

I went back to my room swallowing a bellyful of grievance, no appetite left even for supper.

And of all times, right then a cry of alarm went up outside.

"Quinn, something terrible's happened!"

"Your little boy ran off to the river to play in the water, slipped, and drowned!"