The Night of the Nuggets: Chapters 4-6
The Amazing Miss Pearl—Helping to Make the World Better for Chickens and People
To be honest with you, this section of three illustrations for three chapters are likely some of my favorites. “Riding the Rails with a Wren Friend” shows Pearl at her most lovable, ready, and hopeful for a grand adventure and someone to share it with. (Though it could be safe to say that she is hiding her wide-eyed apprehensions.) “I Am to Be the Next Principalis Bibliothèque” shows Pearl as she has been most of her life and secretly wanting to be as a “star” who is adored and given favor by everyone. If you’ve been following along for The Dictionary of Curious Words, this is a role that is given to her by the Principalis Bibliothèque in Paris where the central Living Library for the whole world is located. Finally, in “The Hat We Chickens Know Him By” gives us the truest look at Pearl’s heart—even though Pearl is not in the illustration.
Although the scientists of The Chicken Nugget Syndicate attempted to change many things about the physical bodies of chickens in their experiments, they had little concern for the other things that make a chicken a chicken. They had ignored things like Pearl’s natural curiosity and persistence.
As Pearl began to wonder when she would begin laying eggs, she also began to wonder about her own chicken parents. She wanted to know about her chicken momma hen and her chicken poppa rooster. To find out more about them, she knew of no better way to get to the truth than to find it directly inside one of the CNS, or Chicken Nugget Syndicate, factories.
To make this easier, Pearl designed several disguises which would help her blend into the grim and forbidding world of the factory. Her friends, the songbirds, helped her hide her disguises inside the factory. They also placed extra investigating equipment in various inconspicuous places where Pearl would be able to find them.
Pearl’s main tool for detecting answers was her magnifying glass. She used it to look for chicken foot prints and people finger prints, and since those often did not hold the answers that she needed, she planned to her magnifying glass to better read the tiny print in the record books of the CNS.
Along with her disguises and detective equipment, Pearl had one other advantage, something that the scientists in the baby chick inspection area had overlooked when they examined her after hatching—Pearl had a additional pair of hand-like wings hidden under her regular wings. She could use these to hold tools or even turn pages in a book. She could also use them to hold a pen or pencil and make notes on paper. Because they were mostly what you would call “chicken scratching,” she still needed the help of a Living Library Page to make official written records for her.
Although there were many things that Pearl did not know, she knew quite a great deal about hats, and thinking about one hat in particular kept her focused on the mission she set for herself.
Despite all I’ve told you so far about myself, there is one thing that I have purposefully overlooked. It is the sort of thing that likely can limit what I am able to do with my life because it involves doing what is best for every birds anywhere in the world.
You see, I am to be the next Principalis Bibliothecarius, the Principal Librarian who is in charge of The Living Library throughout the world.
There are many great songbirds who have dreamed of having this responsibility. Many of them have trained, studied, and followed obediently for years to make a good list of achievements for themselves.
It certainly must seem ironic, that I—a clumsy little white chicken who does almost nothing correctly—might be selected for such a position of honor when I have no achievements to share. My entire life, I have struggled to be a good, normal chicken, while countless songbirds have lived lives of exemplary service to The Living Library.
And yet, this is the job and position which I have been asked to do and convinced of the necessity for me to do rather than being an entertainer. Even though I’ve performed at the world-famous Moulin Rouge, I’d much rather be performing a dance on my own stage in my own backyard garden for my friends.
You will remember what I’ve already told you about the mirror creatures of self-seeking wishes and magic incantations. I must point out that even I am not immune to their trickery, an image that those creatures designed just for my thoughts is included in this chapter.
In the picture, there are stacks of richly covered books, and I am wearing a Renaissance hat and clothing fit for royalty. These are signs of my prestige and approval by others. In my imagination, I am surrounded by attentive wrens who are hanging onto my every word. Not only all of that, but I have even imagined giving up my beautiful white feathers for those with a reddish hue like those of more prominent chickens.
But none of those are good reasons to become the next Principalis Bibliothecarius. My reason is simply to share what I know about The Great Gardner’s Son, who I saw for the first time when he came into our Garden to take away my sick friend Blanche to be with himself.
I know it was him because of the hat that he wore. I love his hat almost as much as I love him.
And in doing all of this thinking, I began to wonder if perhaps this first mystery to solve was because it would give me an opportunity to share what I know about the Great Gardener’s Son.
Before I share with you the hats I have created for myself to teach everyone about Our Great Gardener’s Son, please allow me to share with you his hat that we chickens know him by. I did not make this hat, but it is the most perfect hat for him.
It is a simple hat made of straw woven together, and it has a simple brown cloth band around it. Of all the hats he might have chosen, it is the one that suits him best because although it is humble, he wears it as if it were a crown of gold and jewels.
We see him wearing this hat when he is coming to check on us to make sure that we have what we need for food and water, for safety and shelter. It is a hat that we like because it is made from straw, which is what we use to build our nests or use to simply to sit in and feel comfortable. The brown cloth band reminds us of the brown in our feathers and also the brown in the earth from which our food grows.
We also see him wearing this hat when he comes to take one of us away with him to a place where we will know no more pain or sorrow, only the joy of being in his presence. That’s when he came for my friend Blanche.
And truly, what more could we ever want than to be where he is?
It is a handsome hat that looks quite impressive with his beard and brown suspenders. We chickens love this hat. It would be just like him to take it off his head and offer it to one of us as a cozy nest. When we had laid our eggs in his hat and kept them warm, he would wait with us for them to hatch. He would have treated them as if they were his own, and truly they would be his own since all living creatures are his own.
I am sure that for some of you, this is not exactly the picture you hold in your head of the Great Gardener’s Son. It is not my purpose to make you change your picture—only to perhaps enhance the picture you hold in your head and help you to hold it in your heart as well. This is a far more important job for me than anything else I might do.
Until Next Time
I am curious to know if this works being written from the first person (or first chicken) point of view since some people find all of the “I” and “me” can be distracting. Hopefully you feel like Pearl herself is sitting with you and telling you all of this.
I’m also curious to know about when the “bad guys” should appear because I am inexperienced with writing about superheroes. Unlike our writing friend David Perlmutter, one of my greatest challenges will be writing the banter between good guys and bad guys. You can find David online and this article link will help you find him without a lot of detective work! If you are a writer, you can use David’s skills as a reader/editor of your draft and this link will help you get started!
If you have any comments—good or bad—please share them on Substack or you can also reach Pearl and me directly at John.Spiers@yahoo.com. We are looking forward to sharing more about Amazing Miss Pearl with you as she seeks to do her detective work for The Night of the Nuggets. Your likes and comments are very valuable and helpful!!!
Our Best Advice for the Days Ahead: Remember If you need something to perk yourself up, go find a friend who will go with you to find adventure (but remember that riding the rails is not always safe for people), and then go get yourself a hat!
Thank you for reading!
John, Gracie, Bessie, Pearl, Blanche, Emily, and Amelia
The Chicken Nugget Syndicate- oh, dear. Perhaps they are executives from McDonalds, Perdue and Tyson.
Thank you very kindly for the shoutout. I have shared your work with my followers often and I am glad to see you feel fit to reciprocate as well.