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| Sunday, 29 August 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Life with William : The Hen in William's life by Carol Aloysius Man Friday William has found a new lover a truant hen.
Despite her being chased by a number of children carrying sticks and men brandishing ekels and brooms, Hen refused to budge from her high perch. Instead, to escape her pursuers, she flew onto the highest branch of our jak tree in the backyard and hid herself in its thick foliage. For three consecutive days, armed with a large net, her previous owners came to our garden several times a day, trying to catch Hen. Meanwhile Hen remained safe in her new "Tree top" house. It was only after her previous owners had given up trying to win her back that Hen found the courage to climb down from her tree house to appease her hunger pangs. Stealthily making her way into our backyard, early one morning she crept up to our outdoor kitchen where William was cooking breakfast. It was Hen's and William's first face to face close encounter- and it turned out to be a classic case of love at first sight. One look at the Hen, with her sleek black feathers made William abandon his decision to have nothing to do with the opposite sex. The attraction was mutual. Without a trace of fear, Hen snuggled upto William, looking pleadingly at the bread he was cutting for our breakfast. William responded instantly by breaking a piece and throwing the crumbs on the ground, which the ravenously hungry Hen immediately began to eat. The two not only bonded but soon become inseparable. The love birds even developed a language of their own to communicate with each other, clucking away as they sat cuddled up together on the doorstep of the kitchen. Trouble started however when William came rushing to the house early one morning, crying out in anguish that Hen had been attacked by Spots, the next door dog, when she had followed William to the garage. Jumping out of bed I followed my weeping domestic to the scene of the crime. There, before me were several feathers lying scattered on the ground. Of Hen there was absolutely no sign. Presuming her to be dead, I tried to comfort William with a trite expression of sympathy. "She is in a better place now, away from her enemies". I told him. Refusing to be comforted, William retired to his room with a sad face to change his green sarong to a white one. "Kikilita shokaya prakasha karanna oone" (I must mourn for my Hen), he told me. A pall of gloom hung over our house the whole of that day with Man Friday refusing to do any work out of respect for the dead hen he claimed. He disappeared into his room to compose a funeral oration for Hen to be read out at the funeral which he intended to give her in our backyard, if her remains were found. But search as we did for Hen in all her favourite places- under my car, inside the drain, inside my flower pots, on the tree top, and even in William's room where she occasionally took refuge from Spots. There was no trace of her. Saturday, the day after her supposed demise had only just dawned when we heard a loud cry of joy from William who came rushing into the house shouting that Hen was alive and well! Clambering out of our beds to share in his joy, we found that Hen was indeed alive and none the worse for her frightening ordeal the day before. When Hen saw William she came upto him and gave him her favourite greeting, a loving peck on his cheek. As I write this column, Hen is still with us. The bond between William and Hen has grown strong with every passing day, with Man Friday lavishing all his affections on her much to the annoyance of our old dog Socks. Life has definitely taken on a new meaning for Man Friday, who is now busy composing a new song in honour of Hen's victory over Dog, titled " Mage Nirbeetha Kikiliya" (My brave Hen). |
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Hen literally flew into his life a fortnight ago when she escaped from
her cage in a neighbouring house and decided to roost on the roof of our
house.
