Humor

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"'Red' MacPherson here with another hard-hitting, man-on-the-street interview. This week's topic - Chicken Little. And what better place to discover the truth about Chicken Little," Red pivots back, out of camera shot, sweeping his arm upward as he continues, "than out here. Big blue skies and open farm country."

The camera pans over to the "General Store". "Let's begin here where local farm families come to replenish their supplies." As Red approaches the store a woman walks out carrying two bags of groceries. "Excuse me ma'am. 'Red MacPherson here, ace reporter. I have a question about – Chicken Little."

"Oh, well. I wasn't really expecting this. My hair's not proper, you understand."

"Nothing to worry about, ma'am. We'll gladly blur your face out and no one will be the wiser."

"Oh, well, go ahead."

"Thank you." Red brings up his 3x5 card and says, "If Chicken Little had been bigger do you think others would have believed her?"

The lady begins to giggle. Confusion develops on Red's face as the lady breaks into laughter. "You silly man." Her laughter subsides. "The others did believe Chicken Little." She starts to walk away.

Regaining his composure Red decides on a scientific slant. Recapturing the ladies attention he asks, "Well, it's true Chicken Little believed the sky was falling." The lady nods. "Why is the sky - blue?"

Again the lady begins giggling; then regains her composure. "Since most of the natural things are green, God made the sky blue." The lady walks to her car giggling.

Red turns, rubbing his forehead; he has sharp words for his cameraman, "Shut that thing off!" Realizing the sound of a guitar is coming from the porch, Red climbs the stairs; the cameraman close behind.

Turning the corner of the porch Red sees a barefoot man, twentysomething, feet propped on the railing. He makes eye contact as Red approaches. "Hey there, cool dudes." He smiles.

His confidence shaken, Red's professional side urges him to press on with the assignment; he gives it another shot. "You know Chicken Little?"

"Not personally. But I know of her." The young man continues to strum while Red looks for words.

Hesitantly Red proceeds, "If Chicken Little had been bigger would others have believed her?"

Strumming, he replies, "No, it wouldn't matter." Hope expresses itself on Red's face. "Her character would have been the same; always fabricatin' stories, man." He continued strumming. "Besides, size wasn't the problem. The look on Red's face begged a response. "Foxy Loxy was the bad dude that ate them all."

Red decides the interview is over. "Come on, Brian." Making their way to the news van Red asks Brian the cameraman, "When you found this place on the map you sure it wasn't named Twilight Zone? Let's go find a farm.

Within a few minutes they were getting out of the van. Noticing a farmer not to far off in the field Red trots off to catch him. Realizing he wasn't fit enough to out run a tractor he stops and mutters, "I can't…even outrun…a tractor….Must be…the shoes."

Approaching the farmhouse, Red realizes Brian hadn't followed him. Brian smiles upon Red's return. Red notices a young girl of about 10 on the porch reading a book. "You gonna follow me this time?" Brian smiles.

"Good afternoon, young lady."
Continuing to read, she says, "Good afternoon."
"May I ask you a couple questions of which you may know something about?"
"I'm not suppose to talk to strangers."
"Young lady. I'm no stranger. I'm "Red" MacPherson, ace reporter with WMUK."
She lifts her eyes just above the edge of the book seeing the van. After looking slightly to her left at Red, she returns to her reading. "Okay."
"If Chicken Little had been bigger do you think she would have been so easily deceived by…"
"Foxy Loxy? No." Without lifting her eyes she continues, "Her brain would have been bigger."
Pondering the point, Red continues, "Chicken Little believed the sky was falling…"
"So why is the sky blue? Easy. That's the way God wanted it."

Red muttered, "Twilight Zone." Flashing a smile he thanks the girl and motioned for Brian to get ready to leave. Red drifts to a near-by tree, sitting with his back against solid oak. He ponders the events of the day when something drops on his head. An acorn sat in his lap. Looking up he sees a squirrel perched above him. Red wasn't sure, but he thought he saw the squirrel smiling at him.

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