How Amelia Responds to Having Choices and Takes on the role of a Hero
Two chapters to share with you that reveal the heart of a hero
This week, there are two chapters to share with you. In Chapter 7, Amelia uses her new freedom and ability to have choices to share her heart with Nate who shares his heart with her. Then in Chapter 8, she takes her first step to being a hero after choosing to help Pearl. She realizes there is a cost to being extraordinary. But as you will soon learn, along with Amelia, she is the only one who can defeat Professor Accipiter who is in league with The Absence of Love, the greatest threat to chickens, people, and all life on our planet!
I was up on the roof looking for the spot under the back porch eaves where I suspected squirrels were getting into the attic. There, on that most enjoyable spot that most people seldom visit, I heard the sweetest of sweet sounds.
“Hello, Amelia,” I said without turning around.
“How did you know it was me?”
“I’ve been expecting you. I knew you would find the new perching bar so high up that no one could reach it but you.
“And I could tell from the strong wing flappings I heard and the light sound of your feet as you landed on this old metal roof. You are the most excellent flyer of all.”
“Did you know the perching bar let the top door open even though the bottom one stayed closed?”
“Yes.”
“It sounds like you did that on purpose.”
“Maybe.”
“So why would you do that?”
“Because I wanted to have some time just with you, away from the others.”
“What if something had gotten in?”
“Gracie wouldn’t let that happen. And you know Emily is always first to sound the alarm. I listen. Even up here on the roof where they can’t see me, I listen.”
“It’s very nice up here.”
“Yes, I know. The world looks very different up here, doesn’t it?”
“It does. And I like having the nice view without the steady wing flapping to stay up this high.”
“Look back down at the upper door. Tell me what you see.”
“It’s closed now,” she said. She tried to hide her surprise.
“When you flew out, it closed behind you. There are cams and gears that made the door close behind you.”
“That is quite ingenious.”
“It wasn’t my idea. It was the idea of a friend. He grew up here but had to find a new home, just like you. He is living on a farm not too far away. He suggested that I do that so you truly would be free to choose.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
“I only want you to believe what I told you when you first moved into this new bigger home. This is your home for as long as you want it to be. I will never give you away. I will never keep you from leaving.”
“I remember.”
“Tell me something, Amelia.”
“Yes?”
“Would you stay up here with me until the sun goes down and the city lights come on? I’d like to look at the downtown lights and the stars from up here with you.”
“We can do that. I think I would like that. I won’t be able to fly down safely in the dark.”
“I will carry you. I brought up my tool bucket.”
“The one with the rope?”
“Yes, the one I use to bring up my tools and lower them down again.”
“You think of everything.”
“Not really, but I appreciate you for believing I do.”
She helped me find the hole under the eaves. Then after she was quite sure there were no squirrels in the attic, she watched as I nailed a board over the hole. Lefty would have done the same, I said to myself.
While she surveyed all that could be seen up and down the street and around the neighborhood, I lay down on my back and looked up at the clouds as they passed overhead. With the angle of the roof, I had a perfect vantage point.
Suddenly, I felt sad for Amelia and the others because chickens can’t lay on their backs like this. Even though we were in the same place and Amelia was right beside me, we couldn’t see the same way. But Amelia flew up higher and perched on top of the kitchen chimney, as high up on the house as there was to perch, and that was something I couldn’t do.
I think she may have felt sad for me not being able to have the same view she had because she said, “I wish you could see the way I see.”
“I do too, Amelia. Your eyes are pure and innocent, and I love you for that. I don’t want you to ever see the world any other way.”
We stayed up there just like that for the longest time without speaking. Sometimes it is that way. You can say a lot without saying anything at all.
From the roof, I heard the other chickens making their way up their ladder and into the coop for the night. Emily and Gracie had a brief argument over who was going to roost where.
“They always do that,” commented Amelia.
“Is that why you always go up last and take whatever space is left?”
“Partly. But I also have the best eyesight, and I don’t want to miss anything. I’ve always wondered about the glow in the sky after the sun sets.”
“Yes, it’s caused by the downtown lights. You will see them for yourself tonight.”
Then all was quiet up where we were and below too. There was only the sound of an occasional passing car.
“It all feels so beautiful,” she said. “The sun is sinking. It is down below the horizon now. I can really see it all happening up here. It’s marvelous.”
“The moon is slowly rising.”
“What does that mean? The sun is sinking, but the moon is slowly rising?”
She did not understand the delicate movements of our balanced solar system.
“It means this old world is still spinning around.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I still love you, Amelia.”
That was all the astronomy she cared to know.
“The stars are coming out now,” I said. “They make patterns and pictures in the sky. If you learn them you will always know where you are. They are like a map way up there in the sky.”
We watched as the panorama of lights unveiled itself around us and above us.
“I have a map inside my head. One day I will tell you about it. But not tonight,” she said. “I feel so small and alone.”
I got up and moved over to stand where she was still perched on the kitchen chimney. This one spot high above the world below was the only place I felt we had ever been eye-to-eye. Suddenly I was very grateful to whoever had unknowingly built this chimney at exactly this most perfect height.
“It’s alright,” I told her, as she turned to find my eyes. “And it will be alright. No matter what. Down below, your world has been kept small, but up here, your world is as large as forever. For now, simply look at the downtown lights and the stars with me, Amelia.”
I can’t really say I know for sure what she saw after the light from the setting sun had been replaced by the light of the stars. It was long past the time she would have gone up to join the others in the coop for the night.
“It all looks so beautiful from this place here with you,” she said.
She may have seen nothing through her own eyes and everything through my eyes. I don’t know. I didn’t ask. But I felt I was seeing the world through her eyes for a moment, and it all truly did look so beautiful.
Perhaps it is not so much what we see that matters but who we see it with.
“I think I need to travel far away,” Amelia said to me as she sat in my arms, cradled snugly against my chest. “I think I need to go so far away that I'm lost.”
“Why do you want to do that, Amelia?”
“Then I will know if I can be lost and not afraid.”
I didn't say anything. I just listened.
“Then I need to know if I can find my way back home again to you and the others.”
“Why do you need to know that, Amelia?”
She looked far off for the morning sunrise. “Because if I can make it back, then it means I really do belong here after all, and I will never need to go away again.”
“I see.”
“And if I can't make it back, then that means something else. I don't know what it will mean, but if it happens like that, then I will know.”
She looked at me to make sure I wasn't angry or disappointed with her.
“What if I find out I belong somewhere else? It could be like that. You know?”
Then she said what troubled her the most. “What if I find I want to come back—but can't?”
“Amelia, you have been thinking about these things for a long time, haven't you?”
“I have.” There was a silence all around us. Then she asked, “What do you think?”
“You should never make a decision out of fear—not a decision to be part of our family here, or a decision to remain, or a decision to go away. Love and fear don't ever belong together.”
Amelia thought over these words carefully. This gave me time to consider what Lefty had told me about how Amelia might be a Sentinel like Mayflower. She would surely feel things differently than the other chickens, plus she was extremely intelligent.
“I think you have to do what your heart is telling you to do. Either way, my heart will be broken. But you know that already, don't you?”
“What do you mean?”
“If you don't travel far away enough to answer all those questions, you will never be at peace. I don't think you would be happy not knowing. Your unhappiness would break my heart even though I still had you here with me.”
“And if I traveled far away?”
“My heart would be broken every minute you are away, but I would know you are doing what you have to do, and that would make me happy for you, and so the pain would not be as bad.”
“Would you wait for me to come back?”
“Oh, yes. Without a doubt. I would wait for you and watch for you every day.”
“You realize I might not come back? And that you would be waiting for nothing?”
“No. I wouldn't be waiting for nothing. You are so much more than nothing. I love you, Amelia. You know I would fly with you if I could, don't you?”
“Yes. I know that now.”
“Do you need for me to help you pack? Is there anything you want to take with you?”
“No. I don't really own anything other than myself.”
“Yes, I know, and what a gift it is to own yourself, to make your own decisions, to move about as you please, and to do what brings you happiness. But I thought you might want to carry a little container of sunflower kernels with you. They are small, but they have a lot of energy in them that you might need.”
“Can I decide later? Maybe tomorrow?”
“Yes, of course you can. Take as long as you need.”
I held her closer.
“Would it be alright if I give you a good-bye kiss on the head now? I don't want to forget later. And you might find that the time to leave is when I'm not here.”
“Yes, I guess that would be okay,” she said.
We both closed our eyes, not wanting the moment to end. “You are so much more than nothing,” I whispered in her ear.
In this chapter, you will see two narrative sections (how Amelia learned to tie shoes and how Amelia learned to make a bird fly without flapping its wings) that were added as loaded Chekhov’s guns (seemingly unimportant details) just waiting to go off (be used by Amelia) in the dramatic conclusion of the story. Amelia is a smart chicken. She uses what she sees and learns to help herself out later when she is in a jam!
Sometimes when I took a break from working on the stage for Pearl’s Comedy Coop, I would sit with Blanche and Pearl and tell them, “Show me how pretty you are.”
Then in no time at all, they would move from the shade and sit in the sun. Their white feathers reflected the light in the most beautiful way. They were stunning. They were gorgeous. In that moment, I felt so rich, so prosperous, I could not imagine wanting anything else in life.
Then Pearl would wedge herself between the fencing of their chicken run and Blanche, who was already as close as she could get because she enjoyed soaking up as much of the sun’s warmth as possible. But Pearl was persistent, as only Pearl can be. Blanche would relent, surrendering her prime spot and shift over to a less sunny spot.
Pearl would be happy. It wasn’t about being in the sunniest place. It was about having the attention. It was about “getting away with it” like only a best friend can. In no time at all, she would be up and looking for something else to do, and Blanche would return to her napping. That is my Pearl, my ridiculous Pearl.
When it was time to work on the scenery, I put up a canvas tarp to shield it from everyone’s view. We wanted everyone, including Pearl to be surprised. Only Gracie was allowed to help with the scenery, mostly as a consultant who also picked up dropped nails and screws.
The show would be just for us in the backyard, but Pearl would have her moment when she could be what she wanted to be, a star comedian. This would be our gift to Pearl. We even included a backdrop based on a poster she had picked out from one of my art books. It was by Toulouse-Lautrec, the famous French artist. She liked it because the dancers seemed to have white feathers like Blanche and herself.
When everything was completed, Gracie and I decided we needed to let Pearl know so she could prepare some comedy material for her opening night. As much as we had tried to hide everything from her, she had always managed to sneak out and take a loo at our progress when we were not watching. Chickens can be incredibly curious, and Pearl had always had a heaping helping of curiosity.
She was quite thrilled when she looked at everything without having to peek through a hole in the tarp, and we were thrilled for her.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she said. “The strings of lights are very nice but I would like a spotlight too. Please?”
Since her show was scheduled for Saturday evening, everyone would be able to see better with a spotlight. Gracie and I were surprised we had overlooked such an important detail.
“I’d better buy a big bright bulb, one I can switch out for your old red bulb from the brooder box.”
Pearl stood and posed for an imaginary spotlight while Gracie and I chuckled together.
“By the way,” said Gracie, “We were wondering if you have thought about the content of the show. You know, what jokes to tell. That sort of thing.”
Pearl looked at Gracie and then up and me with a blank, befuddled stare.
“Do you mean I have to decide what jokes to tell ahead of time?” she said.
It did no good to tell her we were only asking her to do what all the professionals do. She was determined to do what she called “just winging it” with whatever came to her mind, but she didn’t rule out using props.
Gracie seemed to accept this more easily than I did. Perhaps it is simply how chickens do most things—by trusting their instincts. After all, chickens don’t use pencil and paper. Pearl would definitely have a hard time keeping her jokes organized if they were written down on index cards. And though I would have gladly held up cue card for her, chickens can’t read.
And because of all that, there was a great admiration for Pearl in our hearts. Her desire to simply go wherever her talent and imagination might take her was a lot like Gracie’s own desire the previous spring when she had performed The Dance of the Irises for everyone.
One thing which Pearl had that Gracie had lacked was a rare trust in the gifts she had been given to share with others. None of us understood this at the time. It seemed to be putting a great deal of faith in serendipity when so much depended on her success. But Pearl was far more clever than any of us ever imagined.
Days before the show, Pearl had motioned for Amelia to come over to the corner where Pearl was scratching around as if hunting for a fresh worm.
“Would you like to help me do something miraculous?” Pearl asked Amelia.
Amelia looked Pearl over doubtfully, and nodded her head. It is difficult to turn down the miraculous.
Pearl looked to see if anyone was watching before she scratched away some of the leaves in the corner. Amelia let out a gasp, and Pearl quickly put her wing over Amelia’s beak.
“Shhh! No one is supposed to see this yet.”
I was able to see the glint and sparkle of what looked like sequins before Pearl quickly covered it back up. Then they quietly discussed Pearl’s plan for something quite miraculous.
Until Next Time…
Thank you for reading!
John, Gracie, Bessie, Blanche, Pearl, Emily, and Amelia
She explained it all in whispers and wing gestures in the air. All I could clearly make out was Pearl saying, “You must never tell anyone how this was done unless you need to do something unpredictable, like me. The Absence Of Love is baffled by the unpredictable.”
Amelia will use what she learned about tying shoes and about making birds fly without using their wings when she is captured and becomes part of Professor Accipter’s Blue Moon Bird Circus and Sideshow Extravaganza. She also uses what she has seen and learned to help free all of the captive birds from Professor Accipter’s evil plans!