Tippy, Chapter 21
By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist
Continued from last week.
Next, we decided to slow down a bit. The last few weeks had been exciting, to say the least.
The chicken found us a nice place to hide along the riverbank. It was high weeds and some bushes. We were fairly certain that we could not be seen from the land side.
The chicken was pretty good at finding us some food. And, of course, we had the river right in front of us for water.
We were sitting around one afternoon, and I asked the chicken, “Why do you think we are here?”
“That is the craziest question I have ever heard. You and I met up in the farmyard, then we fought and scratched our way here. It helped that I am very clever,” said the chicken.
I let that last comment pass.
“No, I mean why do you think we are HERE?”
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“I am talking about you and me, all the other animals and all the plants and trees,” I explained.
“Never thought about it.”
“What’s the first thing you remember?”
“I was in this really tight, hard thing and I pecked my way out of it.”
“That’s pretty cool. I remember being in this warm place, then in a cooler place. I couldn’t open my eyes and see for a couple of weeks.”
I continued, “So now we know how we got here, what are we supposed to do?”
The chicken said, “I don’t know about you, but I laid eggs when I was younger.”
Hmm. I knew I couldn’t lay eggs.
Thought I would try another tact. “I remember when Jim was reading from that Black Book that he read a piece that said, ‘For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever believed in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.’ What do you think of that?”
“I think that may only apply to humans,” she said.
“Maybe. But I have seen plenty of humans who don’t think it applies to them.”
“How so?”
“I don’t think they ‘believe,’ based upon the way they act.”
The chicken said, “I know what you mean. I think I would be ashamed to be some of the humans I have seen.”
I agreed.
We dropped the subject because it seemed to be beyond our comprehension and continued to enjoy our sabbatical.
Continued next week.