The Hen That Scared Me To Death – In The Bathroom

It’s 6am. I am awakened by the roosters crowing for the third or fourth time. They didn’t seem to get the memo that they should only crow at sunrise. Instead, they crow at all hours of the night.

I stumble down the small hill to where the outhouse is without slipping. Great success. There is no door to the outhouse, just a curtain.

I open the curtain and see something that I’m not supposed to see. I see a chicken in the toilet paper bucket (in the back left corner in the picture to the left). The pipes in Central America are too small for toilet paper, so used toilet paper is discarded in this bucket.

This is just so wrong and beyond the scope of possibilities that I think maybe I’m seeing things.

At this point, the chicken sees me and realizes that I am definitely within the scope of possibilities and runs at least 100mph out the door. This, in turn, scares the crap out of me (almost literally) and I freak out a bit and have to wake up from my slumber quickly!

When I collect myself and my heart slows down to a million beats per minute, I start to question if this all really just happened. I go inside and lean forward a bit. I see an egg in the bucket.

I felt like such a jerk! I scared this chicken and she in turn abandoned her baby – in a bucket of dirty toilet paper! And the toilet paper roll in there was wet, so she probably suffered the indignity of peeing her “pants” due to the fright she suffered.

I told the grandma, who after several days of trying, finally understands my accented Spanish. She laughed like crazy and the rest of the day asked me to tell the story to each person who came home.

Apparently this hen makes a habit of setting up her egg-warming station in the toilet paper bucket. She hasn’t gotten the hint yet that it isn’t a good idea.

In all fairness, the bucket does make for a perfect location since she fits perfectly inside and the toilet paper probably helps with the heat insulation. And it’s not exposed to the elements.

And yes, my heart races a bit now every time I go to open the curtain to the bathroom…