My mother and I take evening walks in my neighborhood. As we walked one night last week, my mother looked toward a wooded area on our route and then announced, “un día me gustaría ver una de esas gallinas feroces.” My response to her request to see a ferocious chicken must have been a very confused look, because she quickly clarified, “tu sabes, el tipo que dicen que se hechan a los leones.”
I looked at my mother, and then at the hillside, and then back at my mother. “There are gallinas that attack lions?” I asked.
“Si,” she responded. Still sensing my confusion she added, “tu sabes, las que salen en ese canal de los animales que te gusta.”
It was only after her reference to the Discovery Channel and my fascination with wild animal documentaries that I recognized she had mistaken the word “hyena” for “gallina.”
And here I was hoping that an issue in my local city council race would be the ferocious chickens out to terrorize the neighborhood.
© Laura Genao 2007
That’s funny, though it’s not too far fetched. A friend used to have a mean ass rooster, malisimo, and would attack anyone that entered its yard. I don’t fear the pretty birds but after a few hard kicks on my shins that punctured the skin through my jeans (have you seen the size of some of those spurs?) I decided to forget about ever picking up that particular not-so-chicken!
Finger lickin ferocious!