Saving a chicken!

An unforgettable childhood incidence!

My 1^st attempt on recollecting an old incident for blogging!

This is the story of a boy saving the life of a chicken! The boy is about 12 years old and the chicken is just few days old.

One night, as usual I was sniffing around our kitchen looking for some eatables. My mother was there and she looked upset ,so I asked what happened. She didn’t tell anything, but I was sure that something is wrong. When I walked to work area just outside kitchen, where she was preparing something, I heard a small cry of a chicken. I looked around and I saw around 6-7 chickens walking around back side of the house, but I was convinced that the crying which I heard was not from there. It was from somewhere closer...I kept on asking my mum what’s going on there!

Finally she opened up. One of the chickens had fallen into the waste water outlet just outside our work area through a small hole. She was upset about this but was keeping silent, because she knew it was impossible to save the little chicken. She was also worried that if my dad comes to know about he is surely gonna scold! I again heard the weak cry of this chicken.

I took a close look at this waste water outlet. It was totally dirty and a real mess thanks to the waste from kitchen. I shared the same feeling as my mum for some time, but something woke up the ‘animal lover’ inside me! I told mum we can try and save it. She said it’s hopeless. I looked through the hole to locate the chicken. YES! I cud see something, which I convinced my mind that, is the chicken. Didn’t think about anything, I put my hands through stinking hole with the intention of reaching out for the endangered chicken. My hands felt something like the lip of the chicken! Hurray! I came out like a winner to tell my mum that the chicken is still there and we can save it. (the pipe was ‘T’ shaped and it got stuck in the joint I guess!)

By this time, dad also joined the ‘rescue mission’. He brought torches to help us. I almost lied down in the ground near the waste outlet and tried harder and harder to get the chicken. I think I touched the chicken many times, but failed in all attempts to pull it up. We started losing hope and decided to abort the mission and go for dinner. I again heard the faint cry of chicken, and I was totally upset. I thought a while and an idea struck me! Get VACCUM CLEANER! I shouteddddd! My parents didn’t approve my idea of bringing the vacuum cleaner but I somehow convinced them! I managed to find out our never-used-but-not-new vacuum cleaner and Dad found out the necessary extension plugs .

Mum, who was not so confident about this idea initially was the one who put vacuum cleaner pipe to the sewage hole. Dad switched it on and I was anxiously waiting nearby, praying for a living being which I have never ever seen! And within seconds, mum felt something at the end of vacuum cleaner pipe, and SHE SHOUTED!! “STOPPPPpppp”. She took out the pump and God’s grace, the chicken was in it! She took it out carefully but it was neither moving nor making any sound. L (dead! L L )

Dad told it might have dead due the pressure. I cried inside my heart. But mum knew more about chickens than anyone else there. Mum said it was frozen, and needs heat. So she took out some warm clothes and covered the chicken in it. She rubbed it gently then for some time. And finally it started making some moves. She kept on rubbing it gently like we do for a small baby! After being in ‘Intensive care unit ’ for around 10 minutes, it started moving . Mum placed it in the ground and it made failed attempts to walk. 1 leg was dislocated I guess, but in few minutes it walked some distance though with great difficulty!

OH! A sign of relief for all of us. Mum later told me that, its legs became perfectly fine after few days. After a month or so, when I see the bunch of chickens in our home, I try to figure out which among this is the one I saved. I couldn’t find out, but does that really matter?

This day, I always remember as a day when I really did something good.