chick in the city

My third house pet was a chick (the first was a parrot).

We lived in a 2 storey-apartment in Makati and, after our rabbit died due to old age, my father bought us two chicks, one for me and the other for my 2 older brothers (yea, they had to share it...signs of early favoritism?).

I remember the chicks being tiny and cute with light yellow hair. Buddy, my brother, named my pet Chico. The simple naming of a pet then was all new to me. I didn't know it was necessary.

My father bought about a gallon of chicken feed. It smelled funny and was similar to sawdust. I fed Chico a lot of the sawdust until I got used to the smell of the feeds.

We put both pets in a bird cage that used to house the parrot. One of my brothers made sure that there was water in the cage. I don't remember if my father put a bulb inside it to keep the chicks warm.

My brothers' pet died because Buddy was so concerned that his chick was always hungry. So he put it inside the container of feeds, closed the lid and went outside to play with the other kids. He completely forgot about it. I think it was one of the housekeepers who found the dead chick inside the container.

From that moment, Buddy took over Chico. I didn't mind because he was older and I wanted to share my pet, anyway.

One day, he opened the bird cage and let Chico walk on the dining floor. I don't know why he did that. But Chico was so small and walked without a sound that my father didn't notice it was out of the cage. It was an accident waiting to happen, I guess.

My father accidentally stepped on Chico.

Chico survived my father's weight for a few days. Eventually, it died.

My father scolded Buddy when he found out that my brother caused the death of the last chick - my pet.

I remember all of this today because this early morning I heard a chicken make loud noises outside our bedroom window that faces the roof of the house's first floor.

As I looked out the window, my special gurl said that she heard a cat last night on the roof, outside the same window.

"Animals are visiting me. They know I've been sick," I told her.

Nevertheless, I hope these animals call off Dr. Doolittle. I'm feeling better now, thank you.

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kids should know that...

Chickens naturally return to the same spot to roost every night. On most occasions they will put themselves to bed and your only job would be to make sure the door is shut and locked before nightfall. It is best to count the birds each night as sometimes a bird will not find his or her way back into the coop. A bird left out at night is likely to be killed by a predator. (wikipedia)