hummed
faintly. Then he opened the AC fuse box.

Johnny had freed the cauldron lid and was knocking out bits of broken
glass from the kitchen window frame before putting in the new glass
when Barney limped into the room.

"That pot busted the pump house 'lectric line, Johnny, when it went
sailing," he said. "Miz Thompson wants to pump up some water and on top
of that, the batteries are down. You got time to fix the line?"

Johnny paused and surveyed the kitchen. "I'm going to be working here
for another hour anyway so Hetty can clean up when she gets back. Why
don't you fire up the gasoline kicker for now and I'll fix the line
when I get through here," he said.

"O.K.," Barney nodded and turned to leave. "Oh, forgot to ask you. Miz
Thompson tell you about the egg?"

"What egg?" Johnny asked.

"The gold one."

Johnny grinned. "Sure, and I saw the goose when I came in. And you're
Jack and the windmill is your beanstalk. Go climb it, Barney and cut
out the fairy tales."

"Naw, Johnny," Barney protested, "I ain't kidding. Miz Thompson got a
gold egg from the hens this morning. At least, it looks kinda like gold
but she says it ain't. See, here it is." He reached into the cupboard
where Hetty had placed the odd egg. He walked over and handed it to
Johnny who was sitting on the sink drain counter to work on the
shattered window.

The younger man turned the egg over in his hand. "It sure feels funny.
Wonder what the inside looks like?" He banged the egg gently against
the edge of the drain board. When it didn't crack, he slammed it
harder, but then realizing that if it did break suddenly, it would
squish onto the floor, he put the egg on the counter and tapped it with
his hammer.

The shell split and a clear liquid poured out on to the drain board,
thin and clear, not glutenous like a normal egg white. A small, reddish
ball, obviously the yolk, rolled across the board, fell into the sink
and broke into powdery fragments. A faint etherlike odor arose from the
mess.

"I guess Miz Thompson was right," Barney said. "She said that hen musta
been pecking in the fertilizer chemicals. Never seen no egg like that
before."

"Yeh," Johnny said puzzledly. "Well, so much for that." He tossed the
golden shell to one side and turned back to his glass work. Barney left
for the pumphouse.

Inside the pumphouse, Barney opened the gasoline engine tank and poked
a stick down to test the fuel level. The stick came out almost dry