Speaking of driving...

I was heading down a fairly wide street in Fresno the other day and nearly ran over two chickens. Yes, that's right, two chickens were attempting to cross the road.

Now, Fresno is a decent sized city--roughly 600,000 inhabitants--and, indeed, it used to be a farm town. But I can honestly say that I've never seen a chicken--or any other farm animal for that matter--crossing the road.

But what Fresno does have is a burgeoning population of Hmong, or Southeast Asian, residents. And some of these are particularly fond of their chickens; you often hear them crowing from the back yard (the chickens, not the Hmong) and it sort of jars you for a moment. At least it does me, having never lived on a farm.

So, in a way, I wasn't too surprised to see these two chickens cavorting across the road. I immediately decided that they had escaped from their yard and, like Wilbur in Charlotte's Web, were probably contemplating escape before they ended up on someone's dinner table.

I swerved to avoid the two chickens, successfully. But as I did, I couldn't help but wonder if they were infected by the Avian Flu. So, like any cautious soul, I held my breath and pressed my foot a little harder on the gas pedal.

With the two chickens safely reduced to mere fluttering dots in my rearview mirror, I breathed a sigh of relief and let up on the gas to resume my normal mode of driving, which, as I mentioned in a previous post, involves a strict abidance of the law.

I am now happy to report that I am in full health and carry no guilt for having flirted with disaster. I have confidence that the two chickens have reached their destination--whether it be safely to the road's other side, or mashed in a Goodyear tire. Though, more likely, plucked, broiled, and resting on a dinner table.