Hens a Layin’
We recently endured two straight weeks of rain, over 24 inches of constant precipitation from morning, through the afternoon, during the night. It has been tough. I don’t think I’ve endured being inside for so long in a good many years. You get used to being able to go out everyday and do some sort of activity. In Puerto Rico, you get sudden cloud bursts, but in a few minutes that tropical sun mops it up and life goes on.
Monday was my first morning bike ride in over two weeks, and it felt good. My chain had rusted a bit from the humidity. Annoying. You leave your keys a couple of days on the key holder and you get rusty keys. Such is life.
"I’d like a dozen eggs, " I said to Estéban.
"There are none," he replied.
I sighed, drat. No eggs. I got my milk and headed out. It started raining again. Can’t catch a break, can I?
Tuesday rolled around, and it’s a welcome relief, sunny and mild. Ooops, what’s this? Black clouds were rolling in. I headed out in a hurry, hoping to beat the inundation that was sure to come.
"Any eggs today?" I asked.
Estéban chuckled and checked with the guy behind the counter. "Yeah, looks like there’s enough. We can spare a dozen."
I thought to myself. Weird, they’re still short on eggs. Then it hit me. Chickens don’t lay when it’s raining hard. It bothers them. An unhappy chicken is a non-laying chicken. I remembered the last time we were hit with tropical storms, there was a short term egg shortage on the island.
The guy next to me, curious, asked idly how much they were. "How much is a dozen?"
Estéban, got a twinkle in his eye. He chuckled and recounted an incident where a woman asked him that same question. "’¿Cuanto es una docena?’ she asked me, "Twelve little eggs, I told her. Doce huevitos. You know she got mad? Told me that was more than she had expected."
The whole bakery started rolling. Chuckles went all around, and the mood was genial.