The Twilife Zone

Simon and Luella are taking a shortcut through an alley on their way to school when Russell calls them behind a trash bin. He shows them a toy chicken named Henny. Pulling its string makes it introduce itself, tell corny jokes, and offer friendship. Simon is strangely drawn to it, but Luella has heard that Russell and his chickens mean trouble and urges Simon to leave.

Simon pretends that Henny is no big deal. At lunchtime, however, he secretly asks Russell for another chance to try it. After school, Russell takes him and several other children to an abandoned building, where they pass the chicken around and laugh at its jokes. Simon feels uneasy, yet he cannot bear to back down in front of the others. Once he pulls the string, he wants to do it again. Russell produces a sack full of chickens and sells Henny to Simon for ten dollars, allowing him to pay the next day.

Simon hides Henny in his tree house and begins turning to the toy after hard days at school or arguments with his parents. Henny’s simple praise and jokes make him feel better. Soon Simon visits the tree house before school for a morning lift, and Henny begins telling him to take it along. Simon first refuses, then panics when Henny stops talking. Afraid of losing the comfort it gives him, he hides the chicken in his backpack and carries it to school.

Simon’s attention to Henny pushes everything else aside. He sells none of the T-shirts for the science club fundraiser and barely listens when Luella and Larry discuss their progress. Larry discovers the chicken in Simon’s backpack and teases him. Simon lies that he is merely keeping it for a friend, then becomes defensive when Luella confronts him. Although he insists that Henny is only a toy, his secrecy and anger show that it already controls him.

He begins spending every free moment alone with Henny. When Larry invites him to the soda shop, Simon snaps at him and drives him away. Realizing that he has lost a real friend for a toy, Simon returns to the tree house and declares that Henny must stay there.

For the first time, Henny speaks without having its string pulled. It calls Simon by name, begs him not to leave, and claims that it can remain alive only if Simon gives it kindness and understanding. Simon’s alarm turns to wonder. Henny warns that no one else will understand their special friendship, then asks for new clothes. Simon forgets the soda shop and empties his savings account at the toy store.

The next day, Henny demands shoes. Simon borrows Luella’s last five dollars, but one pair is not enough. Henny points him toward nearly two hundred dollars in the science club treasury. When Simon objects that taking it would be stealing, Henny pretends to freeze. Terrified of losing the chicken, Simon agrees to get the money.

Simon follows Luella into the school supply room after Mr. Deardorf gives her the key to the locked cash box. Luella refuses to surrender it, and Henny orders Simon to use his greater strength. In the struggle, Simon hurts her. Luella forces him to see what he has become: he has lied, cheated, attempted theft, and injured a friend for a toy chicken.

Horrified, Simon finally rejects Henny’s demands. The chicken threatens to stop speaking and insists that it needs him, but Simon answers, “I don’t need you.” He throws Henny into a garbage truck and apologizes to Luella. The truck carries the chicken away, but at the dump another worker finds it. Henny introduces itself and offers friendship, and the unsuspecting man gladly takes it home.