What Is the Matter Lucille

Lacona, Iowa, 1938. a chicken coop is on fire at 5 a.m. eight year old sees it, puts down feed bucket, walks back to house on autopilot. Her name is Lucille. She sits down for breakfast with her family of nine. She is the third oldest of the girls. No one notices her blanched face or her dumbstruck silence at first As they begin to eat. She eats in silence. Her mother asks, “What is the matter Lucille?” In a deadpan voice, a voice none of them have ever heard, a voice deep within the bowels of confusion and shock Lucille says “the chicken coop is on fire.” I have heard this story many times. It is never funny. The chicken coop fire being such a trauma for my mother, Lucille.