You’ve heard of a stray dog or stray cat, but have you ever seen a stray chicken? My daughter’s dog was chasing a chicken in their yard. They live in a city, not in the country. They’d never seen this chicken before.
Ironically, they are keeping the chicken in an outdoor barbecue house giving it water and food, veggies and a breakfast bar. My daughter asked me if I wanted to keep it. My husband said we have enough dependents at the moment, but I can’t help but think of my character Sunshine in the second Blessen book.
Here’s an excerpt from the first chapter:
Chapter One: Missing Egg
In the quiet of the morning, before the sun rises, before the barges move down the bayou, even before the school bus rumbles down True Friend Road, I find a miracle waiting for me in the chicken coop. My best friend is a chicken named Sunshine. And she lays the most precious light blue eggs. Every day.
But not today.
I gather Sunshine from her nest by placing my cupped hands under her fluffy breast. I cackle to her in her own language. She says, “bwack!” and fluffs up her feathers.
“Stop that cursin’, Sunny-girl. Act like a lady. Here you go, come to me.”
Sunshine hops up and on to my shoulders. She paces from one shoulder to the next, tangling my hair up in her feathers. She trills and shifts. Tucking her under my arm, I rub her soft golden down hoping to settle her. I’ve never seen her so nervous.
When I check her roosting spot, it looks disturbed. Like someone or some thing was digging for her eggs. A little shiver runs up my spine. Come to think of it, the latch was hanging, not hooked. I’m usually careful to fully latch it at night.
I think about my chicken, Blue, that I lost to a hawk last year. Blue was my first-ever pet that I had to take total care of, and I failed. I left the gate open. She got out and must’ve looked too tempting for the hovering raptor. I wonder if a hawk could’ve stolen Sunshine’s eggs. But that doesn’t make any sense. A hawk couldn’t get into the coop. What coulda’ been scavenging around in Sunshine’s bed? Did I fail her, too? What kind of pet owner am I?
“Sunshine, did you have a visitor last night?”
I put her down outside the coop and scatter some seed. She settles into a focused peck, peck, peck, eating her breakfast.
I look over toward our neighbor’s house and see the shadow of a child moving across the screened porch. That’s weird. I thought the house was empty. The For Sale sign still stands in the front yard. I wonder who could be there. A new friend? An egg thief?
Margaret Simon, all rights reserved, from Sunshine, published by Border Press, 2019.
Reflections on the Teche 
How serendipitous, Margaret, your son-in-law shelters a chicken and your chapter focuses on one!
I wonder where that stray chicken came from! A few summers ago, I started getting chickens wandering into my yard. It turned out they belonged to someone down the street. All summer they wandered all over the neighborhood. It was cute the first day, but when they started making a mess of the yard, not so cute anymore!
Oh, I love Blessen! I have both of her stories in my Kindle. And believe it or not, I have heard of a stray chicken. Our principal and one of our teachers are next-door neighbors. The principal has a chicken, but it often strays over into the teacher’s yard. We have heard many stories of the chicken’s hijinks at school… and once we were treated to a boiled egg for a snack thanks to her prolific egg-laying talent.
We’ve had a lot of “strays” in our yard and the hike and bike park beyond our fence (buzzards, squirrels, hawks, rat snakes, a beautiful buck on the trail) but never a chicken! Her temporary home in the BBQ area brought first a gasp, then a chuckle. Thanks for sharing the accompanying chapter of your book!
I probably should not be laughing so hard at the idea of the chicken living in the barbecue. Poor chicken – if only it knew… And thank you for sharing the beginning of your story. What a delight!
A stray chicken! How very strange! I’d be quite tempted to take it. Lovely excerpt as well.
When I saw this title, I thought for sure it was going to be a slice about the frog! That would be such a surprise to have a random chicken show up in the years. But the chicken in the barbeque has the makings of a poem!
Chicken living in the BBQ, For how long?? 🙂
They found someone to take her today so she’s safely in a new home.
The chicken in the barbecue! I think you have a picture story book on your hands. Thanks for a light-hearted post!
Lots of writing mileage coming out of one stray chicken, Margaret. I look forward to many more foul-gone-astray-inspired pieces from you! 🙂
That’s fowl-gone-astray, of course! Hopefully not foul! LOL!