A true story

(the following story is inspired by events that occurred to my brother-in-law on a recent trip to South America...I have taken the liberty to enhance the story, but the key event did in fact occur)

I opened the door and froze. There in the hallway, frozen in mid-stride, was a chicken. The little chicken's head turned, ever so slightly, one chicken-foot still dangling in mid-air. I looked at it, it looked at me. For another moment neither of us moved.

I considered my options briefly. Should I step back inside? Shoo the thing away? Act like it wasn't there? I wondered if the chicken was wondering the same things.

And then the bird continued walking, down the middle of the hallway. I closed my door and walked down the hallway in the opposite direction.

That night as I ate my grilled chicken sandwich, I smiled.

"I think the experience was awkward, for me and the chicken."

***************

And in other news:

The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Listened to that on tape today, apparently I never read this, for some reason I had it confused with the Song of Roland (I think that's what it is called).

Let's just say that after hearing the Epic of Gilgamesh I am strongly considering getting a tatoo of the cuneiform spelling of Enkidu. I don't think I've ever read/hear anything so old sound so good. I've been reading different English translations on the web...very good, although I like the Stephen Mitchell "New English Version" the best by far.

I'm with you Enkidu...