Precious & Fluffy Flashback

Topic of the day: Precautions Against Bird Flu

 

During the summer time, when I was in Beijing, I woke up almost every morning by the shrill croaking of the neighbor's rooster.  Even though I live in the middle of a huge metropolis, some man who lives in the building across the street keeps a flock of carrier pigeons and a rooster on the roof of his building.  The rooster was very good at his job.  Every day, the bird would start croaking its sweet little head off at around 7am.  Not only that, the thing seemed to start earlier on days when I needed the extra sleep the most.  At the time, I cursed the rooster numerous times in my half awake state, wishing that it'd end up in someones cooking pot as soon as possible. 

 

A few days ago, as I was in my room, zoning out while staring out my window, and it suddenly hit me that I haven't heard anything from the rooster in a long, long time - since the end of summer!  Sure enough, when I scanned the building's roof, there were no traces of life - even the giant pigeon cage seemed eerily empty. 

 

Now of course, I assume that with the threat of avian flu ever increasing, the chicken's owner took the most responsible action & sent the rooster to rooster heaven.  At this point, memories of Precious & Fluffy from this past April's Austin Reception Weekend rushes back to me.   I guess I got my wish.  With the shock of its sudden (assumed) death,  I do feel bad for the rooster - honestly.  I can only hope that the man spared the lives of his fleet of pigeons...

 

RIP Rooster, Fluffy, & Precious