Two days ago, Dad and I went to Springfield. I had an appointment with an Orthopedic Doctor and Dad went along for moral support. We had a nice lunch at Chili’s, although we seem more and more disappointed every time we eat there. Ice tea alone, cost us over $5.00, for just 2 of us! Anyway, I digress.

We were on the way home and had about 30 miles to go. Stopped at a light in a neighboring town (Ava, MO) Dad just happened to glance to his right, off the road. He said to me in a rather surprised voice, “Look, there’s a chicken down there!” “Where?” I asked. He said, “Down there,” as he pointed in the right direction. Trying to keep my eyes on the traffic light, while stretching to see where he was looking, all I could see was a chunk of metal sticking out of the grass. It looked like an old car jack or something like that. It was reddish brown, obviously rusty from being in the weather.

I told Dad, “All I see is a piece of metal sticking up in the grass. No chickens.” Dad says, “No, Goddammit! It’s right there. It moved! It’s looking this way!” I was laughing to myself, knowing that the thing I was looking at couldn’t have moved, and I sure didn’t see anything else down there! He was getting kind of mad because I was arguing with him. I wasn’t trying to argue, just stating a fact. The only thing down there was a piece of metal, rusty and old, left behind by someone. (Later, I realized it was a metal water pipe.) I said, “Dad, all I see is that metal thing. No chickens. It’s not moving.” He says, “Are you sure? I could’ve swore it moved!”

By the time the light changed (finally!) I had Dad convinced there was no chicken. We were laughing now. In his defense – It WAS colored like a chicken; that rusty-red rooster color!

A few days later, I was back in town and stopped to take a photo of what Dad saw. It does look like a chicken, doesn’t it?!

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