Beautiful

Glancing across the pasture, I couldn't make sense of the scene.  Scattered in several spots appeared to be where a pillow fight had gone bad and feathers exploded all over the ground.  I ran into the pasture and viewed the carnage.  A dead hen here, a dead hen there.  A quick count revealed several were missing.  Coyotes had struck mid-day.

As I gathered the deceased, I looked down towards the open space where the missing hens were carried away as a meal.  In the corner of my eye, I noticed another hen, fluffed up and motionless, under the neighbor's bushes.  I went to her and immediately noticed Beautiful had also been attacked.  Blood oozed from her head and an eye was swollen shut.  She survived the coyote attack, but for how much longer?