The Chicken
Why did the chicken, a rabbit, and the cat cross the road? To drink coffee, hang out on the corner, and ditch work, of course.
Back in 1995
There were no smartphones in 1995. Yes, there were cell phones, but we didn't own one between the three of us. The Internet existed, but it was primarily available on 14/4 or 28 baud modems ("dialup" is what we called it), and AOL was the primary connection for most Americans. Boredom in our small town was pervasive, and for the most part, if you were a chicken, a rabbit, or a cat, you didn't have much to do but drink, chase girls, and generally cause as much trouble as possible without getting arrested.
As the rabbit, I had a two-bedroom trailer (mobile home), and when I wasn't shacking up with a girlfriend, the extra room was available for either the chicken or the cat. Neither of which ever had to pay rent. I was more than happy to have either in my life or my trailer.
You wouldn't think a rabbit, chicken, and cat would get along so well, but we did. We spent hours doing prank phone calls, live pranks, creating activities, starting bands, karaoke, chasing girls, starting (and ending) parties, raves, and just about anything else you could imagine. The more outlandish and daring, the better. We seemed to live for new experiences, and laughter needed to be a part of our activities. We seemed to make every day of our young lives count. Like we knew they would end. We embraced the most mundane moments and turned them into something memorable. Memories that might last all three of us into our senior years.
Johnson's Rental
One day, I called into work "sick," and the fact is that I was sick of working and wanted nothing more than the day off. The chicken and the rabbit had come over to hang out, so it began... We gathered in the trailer's living room and contemplated where we could go and what we could do. "Hey! Let's go to the corner at Coco Moon (coffee shop) and hang out!" - Well, I had just called into work "sick," and my agency was right down the street. There was no way I could be seen hanging out on the corner after calling in sick to work! "Let's go to the mall!" said the cat. And the chicken shot that idea down quickly. "Hey! Let's go to Paul Bunyan Land," and that was shot down. I don't know who said what exactly, but this back-and-forth resulted in the following:
Cat: "Nah, that's lame!"
Rabbit: "Well, it's better than hanging out at Johnson's Rental!"
Chicken: "At least you could try on the costumes there!"
Cat: "They have costumes?"
And that's how most of our adventures were concocted.
After getting to Johnson's Rental, we discovered that the costumes were $30 for one costume, but we could rent just the heads for $10. We landed on the Sand Diego Chicken, Bugs Bunny, and Garfield The Cat with limited selections. From there, the day was filled with as many creative ways as possible to make each of these $10 heads worth every penny.
Playtime
We played all day. We went to the mall and pretended to randomly run into one another as people in the food court looked on. Before Jackass and before all those pranking videos on YouTube, the chicken, the rabbit, and the cat were kicking each other's asses in random locations all around that small town for an entire day. Just three friends who loved to make each other and everyone else laugh around them. We had the most fun you could imagine with $10 head costumes.
Eventually, we ended up at the Coco Moon and sat and talked with our costume heads on (incognito). People honked, and we waved. At one point, someone asked if we were hired by the coffee shop to attract people's attention. Ha! We never thought about that. As we sat there, a friend showed up with a camera and took these photos. Funny, we never considered taking pictures back then; the memories were always more than enough. And they still are; having the pictures doesn't do the memories justice.
The chicken
I have thought about that day a few times in the last 30 years, but I hadn't thought about that day in a while until I was talking to the cat about the chicken's sudden death recently. It was the evening before his birthday, and he hit his head outside a restaurant in Arizona and died. I couldn't attend his memorial, but talking with the cat on the phone reminded me that it was probably better that I didn't go. Having the memory of each other and our time together was enough.
The cat and the rabbit
In our phone conversations, the cat reminded me of how much fun we really had. How blessed we were to have such a bond and brotherhood, to know one another, and to have shared and enjoyed so much life together. Some people never know anything close to what we had. It was really special. The cat and I will carry on and continue to "cross our roads." But sadly, we will have to go on without the chicken.
Love you, Jason.
