Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

Wednesday morning, TT and I were on our way to Raleigh, driving down U.S. Highway 70, when we witnessed something tumble beneath a pickp truck just ahead of us. At first I thought it was a swan because white feathers were floating all over the place. Once it righted itself, I realized that it was a chicken! A big, juicy, fat, estrogen-injected, male-breast-enhancing, hen. Where it came from, I don't know. There are no farms and there was no poultry truck ahead of us. This chicken just appeared out of thin air and got knocked silly by a pickup.


TT started laughing, as he carefully drove around the chicken who was standing frozen still in the middle of the right lane. Obviously the chicken didn't know what had hit her or what to do once she saw the traffic all around her. Cars started pulling onto the shoulder to avoid hitting the chicken again. I watched from the rear window for almost a mile as cars, trucks and tractor trailers drove around the shocked bird. The last thing I saw as we went over the hill was this tiny white object in the middle of the road and a huge tractor trailer sqeezing past on the right hand shoulder.

TT remarked, "Why was that stupid chicken out in the road?" I guess she was just trying to get to the other side of the road; though there was nothing over there either except a church. Maybe the chicken wanted to go to church. If I'd been knocked on my beak by a pickup truck, I'd want religion too. The hen's problem was how was she going to get across three more lanes of rush-hour traffic? And once she got there, who was going to help her? It was Wednesday - the middle of the week. God wouldn't be back until Sunday - He's not interested in hanging around an empty building.

Chickens are tasty, but they're not very bright. Roads are death to animals and humans. I've seen my share of possums, raccoons, foxes, deer, squirrels, skunks, rabbits, cats, and dogs left mangled on the side of the road, but this would have been the first chicken I've seen killed crossing the road. So why are so many animals killed while crossing the road?

I ponder these things, and I suppose it's because the paths of humans and the paths of animals often cross but seldom go in the same direction. Our world is tiny, man's world is infinite. We're equipped for this world; man is equipped for something larger. Roads divide beasts and connect humans.

Maybe that chicken made it to the other side of the road. I hope so. Out of respect for her, we ordered sausage biscuits for breakfast at Bojangles. And sweet tea. Bojangles has the best sweet tea.