>>> Item number 29046 from WRITERS LOG9404D --- (81 records) ----- <<< Date: Thu, 28 Apr 1994 10:46:02 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: SUB: Not Just Another Roadkill Just for the sheer rotten joy of it... wild tink presents ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Not Just Another Roadkill Copyright 1994 Mike Barker 578 words It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, but for this Rhode Island Red, the time was now. Jenny scratched at the dust, cocked her head and looked to her left past the post holding the stainless steel mailbox above her, then twisted and looked right. Her heart throbbed. She swallowed. Then she took a cautious step forward onto the black road. "HONK!" She scuttled back, her eyes closed, clucking in distress, as the wind of the passing monster plucked at her feathers. After a moment, she blinked quickly, then opened her eyes. She was still alive. Looking at the road again, she knew what she wanted to do, no matter how the metal monsters scared her. She lifted her feathers, shook her tail once, twice, then stepped forward to the edge of the black again. A quick look left, then right, and a firm step onto the black. Another step, her claws clicking and gripping futilely on the gravel locked in the black surface. She felt weak, then remembered to breath. As the air whistled in and out of the scaly nostrils in her beak, she felt her strength returning. Silly fowl she thought, why were you holding your breath? She took another step, looked left, then turned her head and looked back as she realized that behind her she could see all she had ever known. The coop, the hens clustered around the yard clucking in contentment with their lives, the farmhouse - she could see it all in one glance, and she knew she could never go back. "HONK!" A metal monster! Where, where? She looked left, where the close ones always came from. There was nothing there. Where? "HONKHONKHONK!" She looked right. The monster was close, the shining metal grinning down at her, the glassy eyes staring. She could see the air wavering over the back of its head from the animal heat of the angry beast. Her stomach fell away as she swallowed. She took a slow step sideways. "HONK!" She ran, gobbling. She ran without thinking, waiting for the teeth or claws of the beast to clutch her and rend her for daring to invade its territory. Then she heard the monster race its purring voice loudly. And it vanished behind her. She waited, her eyes shut, for a long time. Then she looked around. It was gone. She looked around again, and clawed at the ground in frustration. Somehow she had run back to the farm. Three hens raised their head in casual inquiry, but she ignored them and they returned to looking for the tasty worms and insects that often hid along the edge of the grass. Damn, damn, damn. A bug, or even just a sip of water, would taste good now, and then later maybe she could try again... She fluffed her feathers, turned away from the beckoning comforts of home, and set herself again. She looked left. She looked right. She took a step. She looked, she stepped. More steps. A monster approached on the right. She glared at it, then took another step. "HONK!" She fluffed her feathers, then took another step. "HONKHONKHONK!" She twitched her tail, looked the beast in the eye, and took another step. Slowly. Step by step, she crossed the road. The worm, that lovely fat worm she had seen from the other side of the road, was long gone. But he had brothers that were very, very tasty.