Did I tell you about the chicken?

I was driving down the street here in Kelowna in December. The roads are a bit slick, and since Christmas was swiftly approaching, people seemed more impatient and more erratic on the roads than normal. I made a few stops to pick up a few odds and ends, picked up one of K's Christmas presents very sly-like, and was heading to another location for more Christmas shopping adventures.

I was approaching a turn and a fellow driver nearly drove me off the road... he was obviously a bit more hurried than I was. Luckily, I was feeling pretty calm, and let the incident roll off my back. As I come up to the next turn, I look into the parking lot of the Canadian Tire that I was passing by, and I saw something out of place. It was as if the song, "One of these things is not like the other one... one of these things is not the same" came into my head. I slowed a bit and narrowed my eyes into a stiff squint to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

Nope, no hallucinations here. There was a damned rooster running around in the Canadian Tire parking lot!

Now, if there was a petting zoo on, it wouldn't have seemed strange. And I'm from the prairies, so it's not like I haven't seen a bloody rooster before. Hell, even if it were in the parking lot of Safeway or Costco, I probably would've laughed and thought, "Wow, at least you know they carry some fresh poultry!" But Canadian Tire isn't exactly the place you go for tasty fruits and fresh-from-the-butcher meats.

The strangest thing was that there were absolutely no people around! It was as if this rooster departed the Greyhound after an overnight from Cranbrook and said, "Hmmm... looks like my destination", hopped off and decided he needed some power tools or a new crock pot. He probably left after realizing that he didn't have the necessary opposable thumbs to create a wonderful stew or to frame a house.

After seeing this very out of place creature, I did the first thing to cross my mind... I called one of my fellow interns who has a true appreciation for random events. The message was a bit redundant, and featured me yelling (repeatedly) into the receiver, "I just saw a frickin' rooster in the Canadian Tire parking lot! A bloody rooster! What the hell is a rooster doing in the Canadian Tire parking lot?!?"

And then I almost plowed into another holiday shopper because I was a little distracted. Moral of the story? Don't indulge in your amazement at out of place poultry when driving a hatchback.

- T