The Two Chickens

With Christmas time approaching, we bought two chickens, and the strange thing about them was that they both had very different personalities. You might think I’m loony when I say this, but I’m not.

They looked like twins the two chickens. They both were a creamy color, with brown bands around them, and they had all the fluffiness associated with chickens.

And for the life of me, I couldn’t decipher which one of them was male or female, and honestly, I couldn’t care less. They both had combs though. When we bought them, we put them in a passageway that acted as some sort of landing. To the right of the passageway, there was a flight of stairs leading down to the ground floor, and we put both chickens on either side of the passageway so that there would be room for us to pass.

You see the first one was uptight and very skittish. Whenever I came near it to take some water out of the barrel where we keep water (as it was kept very near it), it would rise quickly from where it sat, and try to avoid contact by all means. It would strain at its tether, which was firmly tied, with little success. Even when I was just walking past, it would raise its head with suspicion and would cock its head from side to side and would utter a very abstruse sound. It wasn’t like a clearly defined cackle or squawk, just a very weird sound. In fact, the only word that defines the sound it made each time I approached is suspicious. It sounded very suspicious indeed.

His contemporary, on the other hand, was the most serene creature I ever set my eyes on. He would just sit there minding his business. It was always a source of amazement to me how he could be so quiet, and his companion was always so restless.  I really don’t know why he always kept to himself.  Maybe he was a creative chicken and liked to be imaginative. Or was he studying our weaknesses so he could come back in the next life and have his revenge on us after we had eaten him?

I learned some things from these two critters. The easy-going chicken was always left alone. No one bothered with him because he didn’t seem to be a threat to anyone. His friend, on the other hand, was always making a nuisance of himself. Consequently, my brother tormented him to no end. He found creative ways to ruffle his feathers.  I don’t know why he was always so afraid…He probably knew the fate that awaited him and was nervous about it.

So be serene and easy-going like the other chicken, and you won’t be hassled too much. People don’t know what to expect from you, because you don’t show them much, and as a result, a cloud of mystery surrounds you. Mystery is always a good thing.

Because he was mysterious, I would have liked to keep him, but sadly, that decision was in the hands of my mother.