Fearless in Feathers

(Chapter 10 from the book "The Chicken Who Didn't Know Where To Lay Her Eggs")


November got off to a gentle start. The nights dipped down no lower than the high 40s. During the day, the temperature reached the upper 70s, sometimes even the low 80s. The skies were bright blue and the air was dry.

Seeds from grass, flowers and other plants were beginning to fall to the ground. Pecans, chestnuts, and acorns were under the trees.

Shellie enjoyed sitting out in the sun for long hours in such weather. The warm rays felt good and comforting on her feathers. Since Paula had left, Shellie often felt alone. The warmth and gentle light from the mid-autumn sun made her feel less so.

Dingo often sat beside her, or the two of them took walks around the yard together. Tadpole was back in school and they didn't see much of him lately. He rarely got home before sundown. They both missed him but they also saw the bright side: At least he wasn't there to spray them with the water hose.

On the first Wednesday morning in the month, Shellie and Dingo came outside early, around 7:00. The sun had just come up, and the grass was heavy with dew. It was the time of day when all was still quiet.

They made their early morning rounds, and said goodbye to Tadpole and April when they headed off to school. After checking out the entire yard, Shellie and Dingo took their usual places on the front porch, right where the rays of sun struck it. Dingo had a light cough and his throat was a little irritated.
Around 9:30, the last of the dew dried off from the grass.

Dingo stood up and slowly stretched first his front legs and then his back legs. Paula had always called his stretching "dog yoga".

He surveyed the yard and surrounding fields for a few moments and then trotted off toward the field at the side of the house.

Shellie figured he was going to chase rabbits. There were lots of them this year. The summer had been rainy and kept all the plants in the fields, forests and elsewhere green and lush the entire time. The rabbits had had plenty to eat and had produced a bumper crop of babies. With fall now in progress, they were busy feeding on the abundance of seeds and nuts around the farm.

Shellie stayed where she was. Chasing rabbits was something she let Dingo do by himself. It was a dusty and tiring business, and Shellie preferred staying clean. She didn't want to risk having to get one of April's baths.

Shellie sat in the sun a while longer and dozed a bit. Eventually, the sun made her thirsty. She got up and wandered around to the back door where her bowl of water was sitting.
She drank a few mouthfuls and went in the house. It was extremely quiet there. Shellie could hear the grandfather clock in the living room tick even though the kitchen door was closed. Since she had come to live with April, she had begun to notice minor things like that. Before, when she still lived with Paula, she hadn't paid any attention to such things. There was always too much to do.

Shellie climbed up on her counter perch and thought about all the things that had happened over the last several months. She thought about the sudden change in Paula's behavior, the day she didn't come back home, and then the move to April's house. She wondered what the future would hold, if she would remain living with April and Tadpole the rest of her life, or if some other unexpected turn of events would change all that as well.

All her thoughts made her feel sad and uncertain. Her stomach felt like it was in knots and her chest felt tight. Every breath felt harsh and difficult. She wondered if she was coming down with the flu. She remembered that Dingo had been coughing that morning.

On such moments, Paula had always told her that she needed to think about pleasant things, that life was too short to waste it on thoughts about what had been and what might be. Shellie had always believed her but still found it difficult to simply switch off such thoughts. They had a way of switching themselves back on after a few minutes.

She then decided to try to do what Desert Doe did. Desert Doe always meditated at least once a day. She sat on a cushion on the floor in a strange position that Shellie had never seen Paula or Mike sit in. She would take long, slow, deep breaths. She told Shellie that the purpose was to clear her mind and achieve a state of inner peace. Desert Doe told Shellie that, in Sedona, she always went to a vortex to do her meditating. She said it seemed to enhance the effect.

Shellie closed her eyes and took a long, slow, deep breath. She breathed as deeply as she possibly could. She could feel her chest muscles stretching. She held her breath a moment and then slowly let it out. As she let it out, she concentrated on the sensation of the air flowing through her beak nostrils. Desert Doe had also told her to do that. Desert Doe had told her to focus on the warmth and pressure of the air flowing over the inner part of her nostrils. It was something that Shellie would have never thought of doing herself. She knew that Paula would never talk about such a thing.

After a few breaths, Shellie had to admit that she felt a little better. Her stomach felt calmer and her chest less tight. She continued with the long slow breaths and concentrated on her breathing the way Desert Doe had told her. Desert Doe had told her that if she did it long enough, all the troubling thoughts in her head would eventually disappear like the morning dew.

Shellie breathed deep again and again and again. She had to admit that the troubling thoughts did start to recede. She focused hard on making her mind completely blank. Desert Doe had told her that if she achieved that, she would have reached another level.

Shellie had always wondered what exactly that other level was. Desert Doe had never completely explained that. She had just told Shellie that she would know it when she got there.

Shellie felt much more at ease. She wondered if she was on her way to the other level. She cracked her eye lids slightly to see if she was still sitting on her kitchen perch. She was. It didn't look like the meditating had taken her anywhere yet. She closed her eyes again and kept breathing slowly and deeply.

Suddenly, she heard Dingo let out one of his high-pitched yips. His voice had a strange raspy sound to it. Shellie wondered if it was because of his cough.
Dingo yipped again. His voice sounded highly urgent.

Shellie immediately opened her eyes and held her breath. Desert Doe had never told her what to do if such an interruption happened while she was meditating.

She heard Dingo yip again. The sound came from the far end of the front driveway. Dingo started yipping rapidly and in a fast rhythm, like a machine gun that was trying to yodel.

Shellie decided that this was no time to meditate. She wasn't convinced that meditation could protect her from dangers coming up the driveway. She knew that Dingo wasn't very brave, but he was at least an exceptionally good watch dog.
She jumped down from her perch, ran through the dog door, and around to the front of the house. She flew up on the porch railing for a better view. Dingo down near the mailbox. He was running in large circles around something near the mailbox. His feet stirred up clouds of dark dust that gave the air an ominous, smoky look.

Shellie stood on her tiptoes. She spotted something. The dust that Dingo w
as stirring up made it difficult to see exactly what it was.

She looked closer.

It was a chicken!

The chicken started walking directly up the driveway. It didn't seem to have any fear of Dingo. Even though Dingo was yipping and trying to be threatening, the chicken got in the middle of the driveway and just kept coming like a feathered Alexander the Great out to conquer the next farm yard. The chicken headed straight toward the house.

Dingo kept circling around it. He yipped and yipped but never got any closer. Shellie recognized it as typical Dingo behavior, to make lots of noise but not actually do anything. Paula had often called Dingo the biggest chicken in the farm yard.

When the chicken was about halfway up the driveway, Shellie noticed that it wasn't merely a chicken. It was a rooster.

The rooster strutted closer and closer. He seemed very sure of himself. He didn't seem to realize that Dingo was a dog and he was just a bird.

When he got to the front edge of the yard, Shellie was able to get a good look at him. She found him to be a somewhat strange-looking rooster, not like the ones she was used to.

He had extremely long legs, a large and floppy crown, and a very short neck. He was also bright orange in color. With the bright sun reflecting off his feathers, he looked like a walking ball of fire. All the chickens Shellie had seen before had come in three basic colors: black, brown, and white. This was the first time that she had ever seen one so flashy and bright. It made her think of a TV show about Las Vegas that Paula had watched one night.

The rooster scratched around in the yard until he found a clump of grass that was ready to drop its seeds. He pecked at the seeds hungrily, as if he hadn't had anything to eat for a couple of days. He was so busy eating that he ignored Dingo completely and didn't spot Shellie.

Shellie didn't quite know what to do or think. She watched the rooster with a combination of fascination and horror. The lonely half of her told her to run out to greet him and befriend him. The unsure half of her told her to stay away, perhaps even to save her neck.

The rooster came nearer. He found some more grass seeds to eat.
Shellie's heart started thumping hard and fast. Her entire life had always been very secure, and she generally knew what to expect. She now found herself in a very uncertain situation.

Dingo quit circling the rooster and ran over to the porch where Shellie was sitting. He, too, seemed uncertain about this new creature. He was used to most things running away from him when he barked and chased them. This rooster didn't run. He just stared Dingo in the eye and kept eating.

Shellie finally gave in to fear. She ran around the side of the house to the back porch, through the dog door and into the kitchen. Dingo followed right behind her.
They stayed there all afternoon. Occasionally, they ventured through the dog door to see if the rooster was still there. He was. He didn't appear to have any plans of leaving. He even lay down in the middle of the back yard to soak up some sun. He found a dusty spot and took a very thorough dust bath. He acted like he had always lived there. He acted as if he owned the place.

Finally, near sundown, Shellie and Dingo heard April's car come up the driveway. Neither one ran out to greet April and Tadpole the way they normally did.
They heard the car shut off and the doors open and slam shut.

Then they heard Tadpole yell, "Look, Mama! A rooster."

Dingo and Shellie finally felt a little safer. They crept to the dog door and stuck their heads out.

They watched as April and Tadpole cautiously approached the rooster. The rooster stayed where he was. He also seemed to have no fear of humans.

"Get him some chicken pellets and some water," April told Tadpole. "I'll call around and see if any of our neighbors are missing a rooster."

Tadpole got a bowl of pellets and bowl of water. He crept out toward the middle of the yard, placed them on the ground, and cautiously walked backward to the house.

The rooster approached the bowls. He took several mouthfuls of water. Then he ate some of the pellets. He finally seemed to get his fill. He took a few more mouthfuls of water.

He stood up straight on his long legs, flapped his wings a couple of times, looked around, and started walking toward the back porch. When he got there, he flew up onto the railing and sat there. He looked at Tadpole and Tadpole looked at him.

The rooster raised his head in the air and let out a loud crow. It was sharp, raucous, splintered-sounding noise, like someone blowing on a broken harmonica.
"Mama!" Tadpole yelled. "I want to keep him! I'm going to name him 'Crowster'!"

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The next morning, Mike's SUV drove into April's yard.

Shellie and Dingo stuck their heads out of the dog door to see if Crowster was anywhere in sight. They didn't see him. They ran out into the yard to greet Mike. They were always glad to see him. Especially now with a strange and fearless rooster in the yard.

When Mike got out of the SUV, he bent down, patted Shellie on the back and Dingo on the head and said, "Shellie and Dingo, I've got a surprise for you."

He opened the passenger door of the SUV.

Paula stepped out.

Shellie would've crowed if she had been a rooster herself. She flapped her wings and ran over to Paula. Dingo jumped up and down around Paula and yipped again and again.
Paula leaned down, picked up Shellie with one arm and patted Dingo with her other hand.

"I sure am glad to see the two of you!" she cried. "Come on! Get in the SUV! It's time to go home. I've been away too long."

They all got in the SUV. Both Shellie and Dingo sat on Paula's lap. Dingo kept licking Paula's hand.

Shellie looked over at Mike. He looked happier than she had seen him in months. He had a big smile on his face as he backed the SUV out of April's yard.

Shellie looked back at Paula. She, too, was smiling. She kept petting first Shellie and then Dingo, and telling them how glad she was to be back home with them.

As they left the driveway, Shellie took one last look at April's house and yard.

Then she spotted Crowster. He was standing out at the edge of the field on the left side of the house. He didn't notice them. He was busy catching some sort of insects in the grass. His red feathers glimmered in the sun.