A house of ill repute

That first fall, Sam and the girls "matured" and found better ways to occupy their time than merely scratching up bugs....

11-19-03

I may get raided for running an indecent establishment or something, and corrupting the morals of little children!The people who live two houses down have children, but they're hardly ever outside. Today the grown-ups looked like they had friends and extra children over- the grown-ups were climbing up on the roof doing some kind of repair work while the kids were running about in the yard, laughing and hollering.
Sam saw this as a golden opportunity to let everybody know that his peace was being disturbed by going them one better in the noise category. He commenced to crowing- and once he got started he just wouldn't stop! I decided maybe if he was out running around the yard, he wouldn't crow so much, so I let him and the girls out early.
Now normally, they all stay up at the high end of the yard where there's a lot of plant cover and where the neighbors can't see them. Tonight, drawn by all the commotion the kids were making, Sam (who loves an audience) and Henrietta, who is normally a well-behaved hen, decided to put on an x rated show right out in the open near the fence on the low end. So there I am, on the far side of the yard, with my head stuck inside the coop trying to clean out some of the mess and gather the eggs, when I hear the kids hollering and saying things like "OOOOHHHHH- LOOK at those chickens! What are they DOING?!?"

Well, I knew what they were doing, and sure enough there they were- Sam and Henrietta - oblivious to everything except the task at hand - with all the little kids lined up against the fence watching. By the time I got my head out of the coop and had walked down close to the fence, it was all over, thank goodness, and the kids were heading off to play. Sam was strutting about like the cock of the walk, and Henrietta was demurely scratching in the dirt as though nothing had happened.
I gave both Sam and Henrietta a stern lecture about appropriate behavior and modesty and all, but I don't think they paid any attention. I dunno what the neighbors thought about the show- or the crowing and carrying on- and I hope they don't come around to tell me, quite honestly. But if they do, I have some nice brown eggs to give 'em as a peace offering...