the crime scene

i went out early morning two days ago to buy some bread at a nearby bakery. it was rather a chilly morning. there was a slight drizzle. it was about 5 am. the bakery opens early since lots of people flock there to buy their baked bread. still very hot, straight from the oven. but this will not be about bread.

this will be about mother hen.

when i went out of our gate that morning immediately what caught my attention was this brown colored hen. she was wet from the drizzle and she was pacing back and forth on the grassy sidewalk fronting the house opposite ours. her feathers were glistening from the soft rain but she was unmindful of this. she was frantically cluck-clucking. it was not hard to guess that she was calling for maybe one or two of her brood. about five paces from mother hen was this dark coated cat. he was just there, unmoving, sphinx-like. his front paws are crossed one on top of the other. there was something sinister in the way he looked at mother hen. i could not help but be amazed at these two animals i was observing.

mother hen nervously, noisily, pacing back and forth. dark gray cat patiently poised. only the eyes were moving. this is something i greatly admire with cats. the ability to sit poised, unmoving, for long periods of time. it's as if cats have all the time in the world to wait. yet, equally, i have something to admire too, with mother hen, and with all mothers, for that matter -- the ability to sense danger for their loved ones.

all of a sudden, from behind a lump of decaying cut grass on the sidewalk, darted this small, cottony, yellow creature, chirping animatedly towards mother hen. mother hen opened wide one of her wings, her eyes fixed automatically at the direction of the cat. cat's ears were tensed pointedly upwards, his eyes were focused on the little chick. but he never moved. never budged as mother hen enveloped the little one in her wing.

i guess i might have spent a good ten minutes observing these two, but i have to hurry to the bakery. what occupied my mind as i walked away was why i still heard mother hen 's frantic clucking when i already saw that she was able to tuck the little one safely. could it be she's still missing another chick? could it be i had stepped in on a crime scene? what satisfied the cat?

haha ... what weird thoughts for this wet morning.

the scent of freshly baked bread will soon overcome this silliness.