WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.490 align:middle line:90%


00:00:00.490 --> 00:00:00.990 align:middle line:90%
OK.

00:00:00.990 --> 00:00:04.380 align:middle line:90%


00:00:04.380 --> 00:00:05.370 align:middle line:90%
This one is called--

00:00:05.370 --> 00:00:07.980 align:middle line:90%


00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:09.810 align:middle line:84%
it's not here, it's
not called anything.

00:00:09.810 --> 00:00:15.425 align:middle line:90%


00:00:15.425 --> 00:00:16.050 align:middle line:90%
Well, Yeah, OK.

00:00:16.050 --> 00:00:20.050 align:middle line:84%
I'll read you this one, this
one called, 'The Chicks"

00:00:20.050 --> 00:00:24.250 align:middle line:84%
and it's about a
couple of chickens.

00:00:24.250 --> 00:00:26.080 align:middle line:84%
It's small-- This is
small prose essay,

00:00:26.080 --> 00:00:30.340 align:middle line:84%
and this one's as well
a small prose essay.

00:00:30.340 --> 00:00:34.150 align:middle line:84%
"At first, the three
chicks were little puffs

00:00:34.150 --> 00:00:37.870 align:middle line:84%
of yellow dandelion floating
in our backyard squeaking

00:00:37.870 --> 00:00:40.030 align:middle line:90%
like rusty latches.

00:00:40.030 --> 00:00:43.450 align:middle line:84%
I followed after them in
my big flapping tennis

00:00:43.450 --> 00:00:45.880 align:middle line:84%
shoes and an
11-year-old awkwardness,

00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:49.510 align:middle line:84%
happy, because there were
newborn and breathing the April

00:00:49.510 --> 00:00:52.750 align:middle line:90%
air of blossom and hope.

00:00:52.750 --> 00:00:56.110 align:middle line:84%
They didn't seem to do
much, these chicks, they

00:00:56.110 --> 00:00:59.740 align:middle line:84%
packed the sandy ground and
flapped their tiny wings,

00:00:59.740 --> 00:01:01.570 align:middle line:90%
they blinked a lot to.

00:01:01.570 --> 00:01:04.840 align:middle line:84%
Scratch and went to
sleep standing up.

00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:08.080 align:middle line:84%
When one started moving
the others followed,

00:01:08.080 --> 00:01:12.130 align:middle line:84%
they traveled in threes with
a quick neck bobbing jerks.

00:01:12.130 --> 00:01:15.430 align:middle line:84%
I thought it was cute that they
liked to climb onto my shoes

00:01:15.430 --> 00:01:18.130 align:middle line:84%
until one shit on my
tennis shoe and I had

00:01:18.130 --> 00:01:20.740 align:middle line:90%
to clean it off on the grass.

00:01:20.740 --> 00:01:22.780 align:middle line:84%
I kicked sand in
the chick's face,

00:01:22.780 --> 00:01:24.850 align:middle line:84%
but immediately
felt sorry for him

00:01:24.850 --> 00:01:27.880 align:middle line:84%
because he didn't stop
blinking for the longest time.

00:01:27.880 --> 00:01:32.260 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:01:32.260 --> 00:01:36.460 align:middle line:84%
By the third week, they were
large and grayish yellow

00:01:36.460 --> 00:01:40.420 align:middle line:84%
with the start of red combs
in the top of their heads.

00:01:40.420 --> 00:01:44.470 align:middle line:84%
I no longer fed them grain
from my outstretched palm

00:01:44.470 --> 00:01:46.540 align:middle line:84%
or held up leaves
of lettuce for them

00:01:46.540 --> 00:01:48.700 align:middle line:90%
to perforate with their beaks.

00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:52.240 align:middle line:84%
The mayonnaise lid was used
for the water trough, which was

00:01:52.240 --> 00:01:55.150 align:middle line:90%
replaced with a plastic dish.

00:01:55.150 --> 00:02:00.580 align:middle line:84%
I no longer raced after
them, Rick my older brother

00:02:00.580 --> 00:02:05.020 align:middle line:84%
said it was stupid for me to
care about them, but I had to.

00:02:05.020 --> 00:02:07.750 align:middle line:84%
They had outgrown
their cardboard pen

00:02:07.750 --> 00:02:11.110 align:middle line:84%
and I couldn't just leave them
because the neighbor's cat had

00:02:11.110 --> 00:02:12.640 align:middle line:90%
sniffed them out.

00:02:12.640 --> 00:02:15.040 align:middle line:84%
With wire and some
mismatched lumber,

00:02:15.040 --> 00:02:18.790 align:middle line:84%
I made a new pen for
them and just in time,

00:02:18.790 --> 00:02:22.750 align:middle line:84%
the cat had attacked the chick
which gave up a few feathers

00:02:22.750 --> 00:02:27.730 align:middle line:84%
and screams, but no
blood, or so I thought.

00:02:27.730 --> 00:02:30.010 align:middle line:84%
The next day when I
let them out to play,

00:02:30.010 --> 00:02:35.110 align:middle line:84%
the hurt chick seem dizzy and
quiet, his blink was slow,

00:02:35.110 --> 00:02:37.480 align:middle line:90%
one wings seemed bent.

00:02:37.480 --> 00:02:42.220 align:middle line:84%
I patted its nub of comb
and purred, what's wrong?

00:02:42.220 --> 00:02:44.320 align:middle line:84%
I went inside the
house to do the dishes

00:02:44.320 --> 00:02:46.840 align:middle line:84%
and when I returned
the neighbor's cat was

00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:49.630 align:middle line:84%
carrying the hurt
chicken over the fence.

00:02:49.630 --> 00:02:53.230 align:middle line:84%
I threw a rock at the
cat and cuss words.

00:02:53.230 --> 00:02:56.080 align:middle line:84%
I hated myself for
leaving the chick alone.

00:02:56.080 --> 00:02:58.600 align:middle line:84%
I sat down on the ground
with the two other chickens

00:02:58.600 --> 00:03:02.620 align:middle line:84%
continuing dropping their round
chicken turds in the dust.

00:03:02.620 --> 00:03:04.480 align:middle line:84%
I stirred the
ground with a stick

00:03:04.480 --> 00:03:07.390 align:middle line:84%
and felt a great
hatred for the cat.

00:03:07.390 --> 00:03:08.920 align:middle line:90%
I didn't even have its body--

00:03:08.920 --> 00:03:11.950 align:middle line:84%
I didn't have even the
body of a chick to bury

00:03:11.950 --> 00:03:14.440 align:middle line:90%
or a name to call it.

00:03:14.440 --> 00:03:16.480 align:middle line:84%
When they were a
month old the chicks

00:03:16.480 --> 00:03:21.530 align:middle line:84%
now named Henrietta and Willy
began to walk like chickens,

00:03:21.530 --> 00:03:24.610 align:middle line:84%
high stepping in the
weeds and tomato plants.

00:03:24.610 --> 00:03:27.280 align:middle line:84%
They began to sound
like chickens too,

00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:29.770 align:middle line:90%
clucking instead of squeaking.

00:03:29.770 --> 00:03:33.040 align:middle line:84%
The also shit more,
it became nasty,

00:03:33.040 --> 00:03:37.570 align:middle line:84%
and when my younger brother
Marty tried to play with them,

00:03:37.570 --> 00:03:40.720 align:middle line:84%
Henrietta peck pecked
his belly button, which

00:03:40.720 --> 00:03:45.260 align:middle line:84%
was showing under his
t-shirt, blood sprang skyward

00:03:45.260 --> 00:03:50.230 align:middle line:84%
and my brother, open mouth
and shock, began to cry.

00:03:50.230 --> 00:03:53.500 align:middle line:84%
Fortunately, my
mother wasn't home.

00:03:53.500 --> 00:03:56.830 align:middle line:84%
I washed his belly button and
fit a flesh colored circle

00:03:56.830 --> 00:03:57.865 align:middle line:90%
Band-Aid on the wound.

00:03:57.865 --> 00:04:06.250 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:04:06.250 --> 00:04:09.250 align:middle line:84%
I was scared because I
thought that maybe his belly

00:04:09.250 --> 00:04:13.810 align:middle line:84%
button would rip open in
his guts would flood out.

00:04:13.810 --> 00:04:15.325 align:middle line:84%
Then I would really
be in trouble.

00:04:15.325 --> 00:04:17.920 align:middle line:90%


00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:21.490 align:middle line:84%
The chicks were now
dusty white chickens,

00:04:21.490 --> 00:04:23.530 align:middle line:84%
although they were
huge and scary,

00:04:23.530 --> 00:04:26.620 align:middle line:84%
the neighbor's cats
still hungered for them.

00:04:26.620 --> 00:04:30.070 align:middle line:84%
I was still pained by the
death of the first one.

00:04:30.070 --> 00:04:32.920 align:middle line:84%
I decided to get my
revenge by hiding behind

00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:36.010 align:middle line:84%
a fort of cardboard while
the two remaining chickens

00:04:36.010 --> 00:04:38.500 align:middle line:90%
scratched about the yard.

00:04:38.500 --> 00:04:41.860 align:middle line:84%
I waited with sweaty
rocks in my hand.

00:04:41.860 --> 00:04:44.620 align:middle line:84%
Finally, the cat
climbed onto the fence

00:04:44.620 --> 00:04:47.860 align:middle line:84%
jumped down and creeped
toward Willie who just looked

00:04:47.860 --> 00:04:50.290 align:middle line:90%
up and blinked at the cat.

00:04:50.290 --> 00:04:53.380 align:middle line:84%
I rose quickly and
threw a rock but missed.

00:04:53.380 --> 00:04:56.560 align:middle line:84%
I threw other rocks
and missed, cussed,

00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:59.200 align:middle line:84%
and climbed the fence to
shout at the cat which

00:04:59.200 --> 00:05:02.650 align:middle line:90%
disappeared behind car parts.

00:05:02.650 --> 00:05:04.960 align:middle line:84%
I shepherded the two
remaining chickens

00:05:04.960 --> 00:05:08.650 align:middle line:84%
that had grown so huge
and so wildly stupid

00:05:08.650 --> 00:05:13.090 align:middle line:84%
that they began to shit in the
drinking water, and then drink.

00:05:13.090 --> 00:05:15.460 align:middle line:84%
I hit them with a
mop, chased them,

00:05:15.460 --> 00:05:18.730 align:middle line:84%
and was angry because they
were so unappreciative

00:05:18.730 --> 00:05:20.950 align:middle line:90%
of my concern for them.

00:05:20.950 --> 00:05:23.830 align:middle line:84%
I would stay with them
for hours sweating

00:05:23.830 --> 00:05:27.190 align:middle line:84%
under the early
summer Fresno sun.

00:05:27.190 --> 00:05:31.120 align:middle line:84%
I would spend my own pennies
for a pinch of grain.

00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:35.260 align:middle line:84%
I would walk to Country Boy
Market where shamefaced.

00:05:35.260 --> 00:05:39.580 align:middle line:84%
I asked the grocer
for wilted lettuce.

00:05:39.580 --> 00:05:43.760 align:middle line:84%
Because I was careless,
Willie was the next to get it.

00:05:43.760 --> 00:05:47.050 align:middle line:84%
Instead of carrying them over,
the cat ripped into the chicken

00:05:47.050 --> 00:05:49.270 align:middle line:90%
in our vegetable garden.

00:05:49.270 --> 00:05:52.630 align:middle line:84%
His whiskers were
bloody, his eyes narrow,

00:05:52.630 --> 00:05:55.090 align:middle line:90%
his jaw white with feathers.

00:05:55.090 --> 00:05:58.540 align:middle line:84%
I threw the mop at
the cat and missed.

00:05:58.540 --> 00:06:02.350 align:middle line:84%
I claim climbed the fence and
went looking for the kitty.

00:06:02.350 --> 00:06:06.100 align:middle line:84%
Cat calling, here kitty,
kitty, kitty, kitty.

00:06:06.100 --> 00:06:08.440 align:middle line:84%
I turned to scoop
Willie onto a shovel

00:06:08.440 --> 00:06:11.020 align:middle line:84%
and bury him in the
corner of the yard.

00:06:11.020 --> 00:06:13.670 align:middle line:84%
Tears flooded my
eyes, while I whittle

00:06:13.670 --> 00:06:15.790 align:middle line:84%
the cross Henrietta
went back, went

00:06:15.790 --> 00:06:18.550 align:middle line:84%
about picking pecking
grain and lettuce

00:06:18.550 --> 00:06:22.420 align:middle line:84%
unmoved by the passing
of her friend Willie,

00:06:22.420 --> 00:06:24.760 align:middle line:90%
but Henrietta had her day.

00:06:24.760 --> 00:06:26.620 align:middle line:84%
I became less and
less interested

00:06:26.620 --> 00:06:28.810 align:middle line:84%
in the preservation
of my last chick,

00:06:28.810 --> 00:06:31.750 align:middle line:84%
that one time little
puff of feathers.

00:06:31.750 --> 00:06:34.000 align:middle line:84%
I was playing dodge ball
in the front yard when

00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:36.280 align:middle line:84%
I heard the chicken
cry and raced

00:06:36.280 --> 00:06:38.260 align:middle line:84%
to find the cat
dragging the fluttering

00:06:38.260 --> 00:06:40.870 align:middle line:90%
Henrietta across the yard.

00:06:40.870 --> 00:06:44.200 align:middle line:84%
When the cat saw me he let
go and climbed the fence

00:06:44.200 --> 00:06:45.880 align:middle line:90%
in two leaps.

00:06:45.880 --> 00:06:50.710 align:middle line:84%
Henrietta was badly hurt, I
tried to catch and comfort her

00:06:50.710 --> 00:06:53.530 align:middle line:84%
but she trotted about
the yard trailing

00:06:53.530 --> 00:06:55.600 align:middle line:90%
loose feathers and blood.

00:06:55.600 --> 00:06:58.240 align:middle line:84%
Toward evening,
Henrietta finally

00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:00.040 align:middle line:84%
quieted and allowed
me to pick her

00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:04.930 align:middle line:84%
up, coo at her airless head,
and place her in the pen.

00:07:04.930 --> 00:07:09.670 align:middle line:84%
The next morning she was very
quiet when I let her out.

00:07:09.670 --> 00:07:13.750 align:middle line:84%
She walked with a limp,
but mostly sat blinking.

00:07:13.750 --> 00:07:16.240 align:middle line:84%
She didn't eat or
drink from her dish,

00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:20.770 align:middle line:84%
her beak seemed more open than
closed, and for the first time

00:07:20.770 --> 00:07:25.630 align:middle line:84%
I saw that a chicken's tongue
was stiff like a matchstick.

00:07:25.630 --> 00:07:27.700 align:middle line:84%
The following days
she dragged herself

00:07:27.700 --> 00:07:30.530 align:middle line:84%
about on her good
leg and a day later,

00:07:30.530 --> 00:07:32.920 align:middle line:90%
she couldn't flutter her wings.

00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:36.250 align:middle line:84%
My brother said we had
to chop off her head.

00:07:36.250 --> 00:07:39.100 align:middle line:84%
I was scared and my
brother was scared.

00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:43.390 align:middle line:84%
I picked up Henrietta and
said I'm sorry and cuddled her

00:07:43.390 --> 00:07:47.530 align:middle line:84%
as I carried her to a
2 by 4 set on bricks.

00:07:47.530 --> 00:07:50.620 align:middle line:84%
I let her go at the last
moment and told Rick

00:07:50.620 --> 00:07:52.300 align:middle line:90%
that I couldn't do it.

00:07:52.300 --> 00:07:55.660 align:middle line:84%
He couldn't do it either,
and we sat on the grass

00:07:55.660 --> 00:07:58.930 align:middle line:84%
feeling awful as we heard-- as
we listened to the chicken beat

00:07:58.930 --> 00:08:00.970 align:middle line:90%
about the yard.

00:08:00.970 --> 00:08:05.650 align:middle line:84%
When I turned around Henrietta
was blinking her eyes at us.

00:08:05.650 --> 00:08:08.860 align:middle line:84%
Rick hit me hard in the arm
and said it was my fault.

00:08:08.860 --> 00:08:11.260 align:middle line:84%
He rose quickly
grabbed his shovel

00:08:11.260 --> 00:08:15.130 align:middle line:84%
and with three sloppy strikes
and a lot of anger, Henrietta's

00:08:15.130 --> 00:08:18.070 align:middle line:84%
head came off in warm
blood and feathers mingled

00:08:18.070 --> 00:08:20.200 align:middle line:90%
in the grassy weeds.

00:08:20.200 --> 00:08:22.390 align:middle line:90%
Rick threw down the shovel.

00:08:22.390 --> 00:08:26.710 align:middle line:84%
I started crying because it
was now my job to bury her.

00:08:26.710 --> 00:08:30.820 align:middle line:84%
I scooped up her body on the
shovel and her closed eyed head

00:08:30.820 --> 00:08:34.480 align:middle line:90%
and buried her next to Willie.

00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:38.679 align:middle line:84%
I didn't put a cross over her
grave until the following day.

00:08:38.679 --> 00:08:41.289 align:middle line:84%
I pushed over the
pen, flattening it

00:08:41.289 --> 00:08:43.929 align:middle line:90%
by jumping up and down on it.

00:08:43.929 --> 00:08:46.030 align:middle line:84%
For the rest of the
summer the neighbor's

00:08:46.030 --> 00:08:49.210 align:middle line:84%
cat climbed onto
the fence every day

00:08:49.210 --> 00:08:52.740 align:middle line:90%
to see if we had more chickens."

00:08:52.740 --> 00:08:55.040 align:middle line:90%