A SHORT STORY OR CHICKEN DINNER SAGA

This is an animal story and one that traumatized our baby for a long time. It started around easter (possibly) when we visited a local church for a service. In Japan most people were Shinto Buddhists, but come Christmas or Easter many Japanese celebrated the holiday. One thing about the Japanese, they loved a good holiday, no matter who threw it. Well they were giving away dyed chicks to the children. I have changed the background color, of this post, so you get an idea of the color of the one they selected. Of course there was no question that we were having one, after all what say did I ever have in those decisions? Remember Pancho Negro from Peru? Anyway what could go wrong?

So we get the chicken home, it had its own cage, about the size of a butterfly trap. We got some food to feed it with. Our daughter treated this little beast like a baby, she talked baby chicken language to it, cooed and pampered that chicken. One day she decided its toenails were getting to long and got the scissors out and was about ready to shorten that chicken’s feet when Deysi grabbed her and rescued the chick. Well you gotta know that chicken was cute for about two weeks and then it started to grow like a Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was twice as big as it’s cage now! Quickly that baby chicken transitioned from cute to less than cute. It was growing fast, the blue color was now wearing off and spreading out.

The chicken was now a motley blue, crap brown and dirty white color about the size of a football. Not so cute now you might say. No shit! Well time to eat it right? Wrong, now, our girl was more attached to it than ever. She had never had a dog so now viewed this attack chicken as friend, pet and companion. She spoke chicken language to it all day. It followed her around like a collie. At this time we lived on the third floor of an apartment building in a very small unit. It was big enough for three, but not big enough for three and an ever growing chicken. One day while playing on the balcony, the chicken makes a break for freedom (or was trying to end it all) and pitches itself over the balcony.

Down it went barely able to flap enough to keep it from being a grease spot on the ground below us. Well our girl is hysterical and screaming, Deysi is screaming and the half blue chicken hits the ground. Immediately dogs come out of every niche and crevice and start chasing the chicken. Deysi is screaming at the top of her voice to her friend Barb who lived on the ground floor. Barb sticks her head out, Lilia screams “the dogs are trying to kill the chicken” and Barb jumps into action she leaps over the railing and fights the chicken from out of the mouth of one of the dogs. This not only cheats the poor dog of a well earned meal but also cheats me out of a chicken solution. Gee thanks barb!

Well its now painfully obvious that we could no longer keep that chicken in our small apartment. Deysi now found a solution. She found someone to adopt that chicken and promise (double heart cross) to look after that chicken and to never eat it! It satisfied everyone’s needs. And that is the story of the blue chicken.