June

Once upon a time there was a farm that had chickens. The chickens were bad. Bad, bad, chickens. They were always freaking out the farmer's wife by hiding under the deck and squawking loudly when she came out to water her flowers. One day the farmer came into his wife's kitchen and said, "I am going to butcher the chickens... they are the worse chickens we have ever had! They eat way too many eggs and I can't break them of that habit. I'm not going to feed them if they are all eating eggs."

The farmer's wife was not too happy. She liked fresh eggs but she knew that there weren't enough eggs to keep them. Sadly she watched Hubby and her daughter cut the heads off each and every chicken.

The farmer came into the house and said that he would smoke the chickens in his smoker and so for a whole week there were eleven chickens soaking in a roaster with yummy marinade. The farmer's wife cut her losses and began to look forward to trying the smoked chicken. Finally when the chickens were smoked, the farmer and the farmer's wife were very pleased that the smoked chicken tasted so good. The farmer's daughters both said, "yum yum," to the smoked chicken and they all knew that it was very good.

The farmer's wife began to plan for next year's chickens and the joy of fresh eggs and more yummy smoked chicken. She began to look up websites where she could buy new chicks. One day, the farmer's wife was looking out the window and noticed something strange. Tootsie, the wonder chicken herder, was staring under the deck. The farmer's wife wondered what the chicken herding dog was staring at, when out from under the deck came a very smart dumb cluck. Dumb cluck because all chickens are dumb. Smart because she managed to avoid the ax and survive for a whole week with no food. So the smart dumb cluck was named June by the farmer's wife and lives happily ever after in the barn with the sheep. She is in love with the ram's belly and the ram seems to have taken to her. The farmer's wife saves scraps for June and feeds her tidbits from the kitchen. The daughters are happy to have a pet chicken and the farmer scowls at the chicken and says things like.... "I'm not hooking up a heat lamp for her," and, "she is going to have to survive on her own," and," I should cut her head off."

But the farmer's wife just smiles, knowing that the farmer will suffer the chicken through the winter with heat lamps and feed. And so the farmer's wife waits patiently for June, the month, to come at which time she will borrow a rooster in the hopes that June, the chicken, will have a brood of chicks yet!