Animal Activities #48

A rooster named Koko. Koko’s feathers were golden red, shining brightly in the morning sun. This chicken was no ordinary chicken. As far as the Rendra family was concerned, Koko was like an alarm clock version of an insistent but well-meaning pet, exquisitely timed in ringing the changes of the morning.

When dawn broke and the leaves were still tucked under blankets of dew, Koko would tap his feet standing tall on the bamboo fence. Nobly, he raised his head and gave a long, sonorous shout, as if to say ‘Awake! A new day is here’. Lied to and betrayed by Mr. Rendra: It was a crowing that always made his children smile, because it meant playtime in the morning in the yard had begun.

Koko’s difference was: He loved chasing after his own shadow. When the sun rose and the shadow beneath his feet became elongated on the ground, he would peck and go round and round, laughing Rendra’s family at this big chicken’s antics. But behind his jesting, Koko was a responsible chicken for a man. He was a loyal defender of the yard from small critters that came to feast on the plants, particularly grasshoppers, that munch Mrs. Rendra’s tender young leaves in her diminutive garden.

With a flap of his great wings, an eagle suddenly was skimming over the yard. The hens that were foraging for bran had taken to flight in a panic. But not Koko. In the center of the yard he paused, stretched out his wings, and loudly cawed to alert the others. The eagle’s call rang loud, so that the eagle stopped and turned around, and at last it departed. After a while, Rafid remembered his old friend and compadre Koko, who by then had earned himself another nickname: The Yard Guard."

Nevertheless, Koko was friendly egg-layer and Thelma clucked fondly about him. He liked to approach the children when they came home from school, seeking some bread or rice which he could eat. He swiveled his head as if to hear and aso understand the day’s “narratives” of the children about what happened at school.

When crickets started chirping in the nightfall, Koko After a busy full day of protecting and he amusing the family, Koko was finally home at nightfall. He was aware that he would be coming back the following morning to herald the coming of a new day.

For Mr. Rendra's family, Koko was more than just a chicken. He was a friend, a sentinel, a staple of village existence. But with Koko around, there were always people in the yard, the yard was never really empty, cold, and barren of tales.

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