With a hustle and rustle Regina did an about face, took a deep breath, & marched purposefully across the house to the lonely sound of her heels: tap, tap, tap, tap.... Her marching tempo halted briefly to grab a handful of jelly beans from the clear glass jar, hidden in the back of the pantry. She glanced at the wall clock as the hard beans snake-rattled to the bottom of her purse. "Oh dear!" she exclaimed. Already 9:15 and only fifteen minutes to get to church. She would have to run to beat Mama’s check-in. “Oh darn!” she muttered, thinking her heels would probably rub a blister. “Well, and maybe not,” she added with confidence.
She stepped lightly out of the back door, and down the concrete stoop into a long back yard, a swath of St. Augustine green shaded by mature pecan trees. It was already quite warm. The sunshine bathed her in happiness. Four little white chickens rushed toward her cheeping loudly for feed. Wasn't it nice to be appreciated and loved?... even if it was by these dumb clucks that had shed quickly their yellow down feathers & turned into into little white chickens. The only yellow that remained was their sharp, pointy beaks. Regina had worn down her mother’s resolve with all the arguments as to why she should have those Easter chicks sold at the T G & Y. Mama had finally been won over by the fact that her elder brother would be helping to feed and take care of them. But now they weren’t as cute as when they were fresh-hatched jumping around, so tiny, fluffy, and cheeping away. Only yesterday Mama had said it was time to find another home for them because soon they would be scratching up the grass, and they would be way too big to keep in a city neighborhood. That was fine with Regina because they weren’t very much fun anymore, always begging for attention. Brother had already lost interest.
Suddenly, with mischief in her heart she spied one that didn’t quite look like the others. My goodness! He was just a little bigger and he had some red flesh starting to grow around his head. Would this one be the rare rooster? She crept up close to him, lunged toward him, throwing her purse with both hands at his head, she shouted “Boo!” Just as suddenly, he flew back on the attack with a great squawk. She turned and ran around the side of the house, slamming the gate to the back yard. Undeterred the rooster squawked again & flew over the chest high, wire gate, and began to peck at the heels of Regina's shiny learner pumps.
She thought that by the time she reached the sidewalk the bird would just give up and go back to his usual habitat. After all, wasn’t he just a dumb ol’ chicken? Oh no, this rooster had a purpose, and that was to catch Regina’s shiny black heels. By now she was running faster than she ever had, even in a Field Day relay... but, she couldn’t seem to lose that bird. If Mary had a little lamb, Regina now had a little rooster….except that Mary’s lamb was nice and tame, but her rooster was menacing and mean. Her heels clopped noisily, trying to keep beyond the reach of the sharp beak. Surely he would give up at the next turn, for how would he know how to get back home?
to be concluded.....
No comments:
Post a Comment