If I ever get out of this, I told myself, I'll start . No more nameless chicks backed up against the fry-o-later. No more Tammies in the stockroom. From here on out, it's me and Doreen and our brood, scratching out a life together, our crooked smiles fixed, our precious black hearts beating.
 
Outside, great thunderheads moved across the moon. White-hot welding sparks of  arc'd from the sky to the ground and back again. Thunder rolled across the stars like a runaway .  I tried to force down the lump that had formed in my throat.

It was time to make my move. I thrust my hands in my pockets, Fred Astaire style. I turned my back, and with a low whistle, strolled out of there.
 
Nadine? She did what they all do. Slowly, she followed me out into the storm, ducking and pecking and clucking in a baritone rumble. The clouds started to empty raindrops the size of whiffle balls. And that stupid, giant chicken lifted her ghastly head to the sky, and she started to .
  ANSWERS  over lightning train drink