CHAPTER 4 — CHOOSY CHICKEN

Choosy. . . Chicken. . . The words hung in the twins’ thoughts as they lay in bed listening to the soft sounds of the rainy night.
CLUCKA! CLUCK! CLUCK!
“Good heavens,” thought Tommy, “what was that sound?”
CLUCKA! CLUCK! CLUCK!
It was closer the second time. It seemed to be just outside the window.
“That sounded like. . . a chicken,” thought Tammy in surprise. “But what is a chicken doing here, right outside the bedroom window?”
All was quiet for a moment, then a soft, gravelly voice said, “Choosy. . . Chicken. I’m Choosy Chicken, and I’ve got a poem for you — The Choice Poem, I call it.”

You make choices every day,
At home, at school, at work, at play.
You can choose the things you do,
Even your feelings are up to you.

You choose how you talk and act,
No one else. And that’s a fact.
You can choose to roar like thunder,
Or just sit silently and wonder.

You can give or you can take,
There’s time to choose--make no mistake.
Now as you can plainly see,
You choose what to do and what to be.

The children lay in the dark, too astonished to speak. “Am I awake?” each twin wondered.
“Tommy?” It was a tiny, cautious sound in the dark room.
“Yeah?”
“Did you hear something?”
“You mean. . ., like a chicken?”
Tammy sighed with relief. “Yeah,” she said aloud. “So I didn’t imagine it, after all,” she thought.
CLUCKA! CLUCK! CLUCK!
Almost at the same moment, the twins jumped out of bed and ran over to the window. All of a sudden the darkness began to shimmer and glow. Above them was a brilliant blue sky, so bright it hurt their eyes to look at it. Everything else was hidden in a thick, puffy fog that seemed to sway in an invisible breeze.
“Tammy?” Tommy sounded frightened. He groped for his sister’s hand. “What’s happening? Where are we? Are we awake or asleep?”
“I don’t know,” Tammy admitted.
Suddenly, the fog parted and a strange creature came toward them — a tall bird with a long neck and huge yellow feet. She was purple, a bright, shining purple, that gleamed brilliantly against the sharp blue of the sky. Around her smooth neck was a ruff of coarse feathers in all the colors of the rainbow. A ribbon hung around her neck. Dangling at the end of it was a pair of tiny, wire-rimmed glasses.
But the strangest part of her was her tail. It consisted of five huge feathers, spread out like a fan. Each was a different color, and each had a different letter printed on it in fancy script. The letters were C, R, E, S, and T/W.
“Why, that looks like that silly bird I made for my class’s birthday bulletin board,” thought Tammy in astonishment.
The huge creature made a soft, chuckly sound and repeated the first two lines of the poem she’d just recited. “You make choices every day, At home, at school, at work, at play,” she said.
The children, mouths open in amazement, looked at each other, then back at the bird.
At last, Tommy found his voice. “Who are you?” he asked.
The creature made a sound which might have been a hiccup, then fluttered her wings slightly and stretched her neck. The collar of bright feathers danced up and down.
“Just as I have already announced, I am Choosy Chicken,” she said proudly.
“Chicken!” Tommy exclaimed with a laugh. “You don’t look like any chicken I ever saw before.”
Choosy Chicken drew herself up to her full height. “That is because I am a very special chicken,” she said with dignity, “a very special chicken indeed. As you will soon see,” she added mysteriously.
“Come along now,” she said, urging them forward with her wings. “We mustn’t stand around here any longer.”
“But where are we going?” Tommy asked, holding back slightly. “There’s nothing around here but fog.”
“What?” Choosy Chicken raised her glasses to her eyes and looked around quickly. “Oh, dear, how forgetful of me.” She gave a nervous little cackle.
“One moment, please,” she said.
Spreading her gorgeous, multicolored wings, she fluttered for a second on tiptoe, then stretched her neck and gave a loud SQUAWK! The fog made several little burping sounds and then began to disappear.
“There!” Choosy Chicken purred. “Look.”
The children followed the direction of her pointing wing. Just ahead of them, where nothing had been visible before, a wondrous sight began to appear through the fog. It was a huge amusement park surrounded by a high, pink stone wall that had candy canes painted all over it.
Above the wall the twins could see trees, parts of a roller coaster, and lots of brightly-painted buildings with towers, domes and flower-hung balconies. Through the gate came the muted sounds of music playing and people talking and laughing. The air was suddenly fragrant with the smells of popcorn and cotton candy.
Over the gateway hung a huge pink sign that said, LAND OF CHOICE ZOO — ADMISSION FREE.
“Wow!” exclaimed Tommy. “What is that?”
“You are in the Land of Choice,” explained Choosy Chicken, as she puffed up her chest and preened her feathers. “That is our zoo.”
“Is that where we’re going?” asked Tommy, impressed.
“If you want to.”
“You mean,” said Tammy cautiously, “that we can go see the animals, and ride on the rides — for free?”
Choosy Chicken nodded solemnly. “You can do anything you want to in the Land of Choice,” she said.
“Oh, boy!” cried both twins at the same time, clapping their hands and hurrying toward the entrance. They were so excited that they failed to catch Choosy Chicken’s next words, although she spoke loudly enough for them to hear and understand if they had taken the time to listen.
“But be careful,” she warned. “You must obey all signs, and you must pay the consequences of all your choices.”

Chapter 4 — THE BIG IDEA

For Chapter 4 the Big Idea is: We can often make a better choice if we take just a moment to STOP, and THINK, before we CHOOSE.

Part of The Choice Poem Choosy Chicken recited says: “You choose how you talk and act. No one else. And that’s a fact.” Most young people, and even most grownups, don’t realize that the things they say and do, one moment after another, are choices – but they are.

In the next hour or two, if you get ready to fuss or argue, take a moment to STOP, and THINK, before you CHOOSE. Think about this idea and figure out how you can use it to make your life better.

To order the print form of In the Land of Choice, and the second novel in the series, The Magic of Choice, use the ORDER LINK below.

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