A Storm and Chicken Story
August 26, 2017
A Storm and Chicken Story
One day we were playing outside and a storm came up. Not a cute little Pooh bear thundercloud with a few raindrops, but a giant, hurricane-wind, flash-lightning-fireworks-in-the-sky, shake-the-whole-house-thunder, all-people-hide-inside kind of thunderstorm. (Okay, it was a simple, everyday, Florida thunderstorm.) The winds were swirling chicken feathers and fluffing them out like towel-dried cats. Smaller chickens were hop-flying to stabilize themselves as they fought for the safety of the henhouse.
After drying off from the first wave of rain, the girls peeked outside and giggled at the chickens until the raindrops were so large we couldn’t see the henhouse anymore. The late summer winds blew the tree limbs around like strong autumn breezes scatter just-raked leaf piles.
“Mom, can you tell us a story with a storm?” Asked Rebeccah.
“A Long Tail story!” yipped Kimberly. She was five, and she loved Long Tail.
So we snuggled on the couch with lightning flashes illuminating the room through the big windows and started what would become “Long Tail and the Big Storm.”
The chickens of the yard were ruled by Long Tail, the great yellow chief, and guarded by Long Tail and Alfredo, the white rooster imported some time ago. Under this rooster team, the hens and pullets scratched and gossiped and laid eggs all day with no worries.
On one autumn day the bright sky darkened with angry clouds. The sun hid. The birds in the woods started crying warnings and flying away. Two small humans who were playing in the henhouse with the baby biddies, heard a booming crack of thunder and jumped! They put the baby biddies back in the safe brooder and left the henhouse.
“Look at those little humans!” cawed Alfredo, laughing, “running like rabbits!”
A giant bolt of lightning lit up the sky just behind the woods and a cannon-loud BOOM of thunder shattered the air. Alfredo scrambled into the henhouse and hid under the brooder.
All the hens laughed at the silly rooster.
Even Red Feathers and Golden Eye, two of the youngest pullets, laughed at him.
Long Tail strutted by, “when the water falls from the sky, we come in.” Long Tail was not afraid.
A big wind shrieked through the henhouse. It blew the people door open!
Can Long Tail save his flock? Be sure to check out Long Tail and the Big Storm to see just how this courageous rooster accomplishes this brave feat!
Thanks for reading!
Type at you next time…
~Nancy Tart
