About a Chicken Temple and aspirations

There was once, a long time ago, a little chick. The little chick had recently hatched in an incubator with hundreds of other little chicks like itself, and now the chick was traveling in a large truck alongside its brothers and sisters to a farm far, far away.

Unlike the other chicks in the truck our chick, let’s call him Chuck, was extremely curious about the world and he had found a little crack in the side of the truck, through which he watched the world pass them by.

The truck was slow going so Chuck got the chance to see green fields, expansive bodies of water, towns and villages. The world was wide and varied and Chuck found it fascinating.

The world was wonderful and he could not wait for what was to come next.

Chuck found it extremely impressive when, at a pit stop, high above a building, he saw a towering cutout billboard of a chicken standing tall and proud.

Looking at that billboard, Chuck promised himself that when he will be all grown up he will be just like that chicken, and he will also have a beautiful image of himself displayed for everybody to see.

Chuck was over the moon with his purpose, and looked in disgust down at the mindless chicks surrounding him that only cared about food and water.

Soon the truck made it to its destination, the chicks were moved and housed in a huge, bright warehouse.

Chuck looked around and was surprised to see that there was no way out, although they had space to move about, they were kept in the same place day in and day out, with nothing to do but eat, drink and sleep.

Chuck got with the programme, his heart filled with the dream of growing up and becoming just like the chicken on the billboard. Chuck knew it in his bones that he was destined for greatness, that he was different from all those mindless birds around him, that only cared about eating, drinking, sleeping and more recently gossiping. Gossip seemed to spice up their lives to no end.

In what seemed a split second Chuck was all grown up and he turned into a nice, plump, healthy chicken.

A new trip awaited, and when Chuck saw the truck pulling up outside the warehouse he knew his time had come. Finally! He could not stand those mindless chicks any longer.

The chicken were loaded orderly on the truck, and taken on a short trip, this time to a place that was strangely quiet. Chuck wondered what happened behind the white washed walls, it looked so different than the warehouse they had just come from.

The truck backed onto a ramp and the chickens were disembarked using some huge automated belts. Chuck was fascinated! He had never seen such wondrous technology!

The belts carried the clucking chickens inside the large building and Chuck noticed how the chickens in the front of the belt stopped making noise for some reason as soon as thye passed a certain point.

Unusual! It was so rare that all the chicks stopped making noise.

‘Well, nice knowing you chap! See you on the other side!’, the chicken next to him said and then took a stoic position.

‘What do you mean? Nice knowing me? Where are you going? What side?’, Chuck was confused, for sure the chicken in front of him was not feeling very well.

‘Ah! One of those are you?!’, the chicken gave him a pitting look.

‘What?’, Chuck was starting to get annoyed.

‘No worries, there are always ones like you, too good for the rest of us, that think they will have a different life, that they will change the order of things. Never heard of one managing though … well, maybe you will be the one to make it.’

The chicken waved his wing and took his place in front of Chuck.

Chuck was still confused, but all was clear when the belt took a corner and Chuck could see Hell opening up and swallowing the chickens, then spitting them out on the other side all plucked and clean.

‘WTF?!’

Chuck did not wait for an answer, he just frenetically moved to the side of the belt and jumped. The other chickens were so at peace with their fate that they did not even flinch.

Chuck ran as fast as his chicken feet could carry him, he hid behind machinery, he walked next to walls and large, smelly crates and then, finally, he saw a truck getting ready to leave.

Trucks were freedom, trucks meant he could get away from that place of silent hell.

Chuck got on and when the truck left he could finally breathe. He had made it.

He was different, he had taken his fate into his own wings and now he was free. Free and happy to do what he wanted, and what he wanted was to be like the chicken on the billboard.

Chuck jumped off the truck at a pit stop and then took another, and after a few other exchanges he was able to find what he was looking for, a place where chicken was worshiped, a place that existed in the shadow of a towering cutout billboard of a handsome chicken.

Chuck was finally home.

He sauntered around the building until he finally found an open door, he snuck in and was hit by a strange, new smell, hot oil and something else. Chuck looked about trying to find the shrine of the chicken, and he could not contain his joy when he saw a big, shiny door on which an image, just like the one on the billboard, was stuck proudly.

That is where he would find him, the chicken god.

The door opened and inside Chuck was faced, not with an amazing shrine, but with a version of hell that had frozen over. Hundreds of chickens in all stages of freezing filled the large space. Chuck was pinned in place mesmerized by the atrocity in front of him.

At that moment a large hand picked him up.

‘What are you doing here little buddy? Where did you come from?’

Chuck tried to escape but was unable to move in the large, firm hands.

The man wearing a white apron, tied an end of a string to one of Chuck’s feet, and the other end to the leg of a large metal table.

‘Let me give you some water!’, he put water in a small bowl and then patted Chuck on the head.

‘Do you like bread? I think I have some with seeds, let me check!’, and soon he came back with a plate full of bread crumbs.

Faced with the water and the food Chuck realized that he was actually hungry and thirsty, so he went ahead and ate, and drank. Then, because he was so tired he just stayed there resting.

All the people coming in the kitchen were kind to him, and patted him, and spoke in funny voices. They all brought him things to eat and would stay there keeping him company.

In a short time Chuck became the star of the kitchen, loved by everybody that met him.

Chuck got used quickly with the new order of things, and was happy to receive all the attention. His string was now longer, and he could go out to peck in the small yard next to the kitchen, in the shadow of the great chicken cutout.

‘He looks just like the billboard, did you see?’, a mother told her son while admiring the chicken tied with the string in the yard.

Yeah, in one way or another, Chuck had made it, he had created for himself another fate than that of all those long, gone chickens.