(Ray leads the hens up the coop ramp, down the main isle, around a corner, down a ramp, and under the hen coop to a cardboard covered patch of ground, which is illuminated when a hen turns on a work light hanging from the bottom of the hen coop. Ray passes back and forth until most of the hens are standing around the cardboard area.) “The first rule of dance club is: You do NOT do the FLAMINGO. The second rule of dance club is: You do NOT do the FLAMINGO! The third rule of dance club is: If a dancer starts to do a tap dance, the dance is over. The forth rule of dance club is: Two dancers to a dance. And the final rule of dance club is: If this is your first night at dance club, you have to dance.” Ray says melodramatically as he signals one of the hens to start the record player. “Where did you get the shoes?” Birdie asks as Ray and Martha slip on their wooden shoes and tube-sock t-shirts. “Josie’s got a woodpecker friend. Nice guy, but completely fascinated with chicken feet.” Ray says as he stands up and walks to the center of the cardboard. (Ray and Martha do a quick waltz, which leaves Martha out of breath. After they return to the edge of the cardboard, Ray slips the wooden shoes off, walks over to Martha, and gently kisses her hand as the other chickens fan Martha with leaves.) “You were magnificent my beautiful rosebud.” Ray says then turns to Birdie. “Are you ready to show us what you’ve got?” “Oh, ummm. I guess I’ll try.” Birdie says as he looks down at the wooden shoes. (For a couple moments, Birdie tries to put the wooden shoes, but is interrupted by Sally who comes over wearing the other pair of wooden shoes. Sally pushes Birdie onto a stool, rams his feet into the wooden shoes, and then drags Birdie to the middle of the cardboard dance floor. Before Birdie can object, Sally is tossing Birdie about a modified waltz-like dance. Eventually, Birdie gets the hang of the dance and gives Sally a run for her money. After the song ends, a breathless Sally is engulfed by clucking hens and Birdie is pushed back next to Ray.) “Did I do something wrong?” Birdie asks Ray as he watches the hens admire Sally “Not at all my friend. That is what hens do when they admire each other.” Ray says with envy. “In my book, you’ll always be a rooster. Have a seat my friend. You’re going to need to conserve your strength because it is going to be a long night.” Ray says as he leads Birdie to a stool, sits him down, takes the wooden shoes from him, and returns to the dance floor. “Which of you beautiful young ladies would like to make me the happiest Rooster this side of the barn?” (As the hens all beg for a chance to dance with Ray, the cardboard dance floor, hen coop, and farm becomes more distant and the night turns into a beautiful morning. Inside the hen coop, Birdie’s feathers are all fluffed up as he lays spread eagle on the floor.) “Should we wake him up for breakfast?” Sally asks with a giggle “He looks so handsome…BECAUK!” Henreatta says controllably “Huh, what is going on?” Birdie asks as he is rustled awake “How come your feathers weren’t fluffed up like this last night?” Sally asks with a smile “Oh, ummm. It is just my morning fluff.” Birdie says as his cheeks turn red and he tries to smooth all his feathers down. “He’s a rooster by night and a duck in the morning.” Henreatta giggles. ”Give the duck thing a break Henreatta.” Sally says with a scowl “Yeah, well…Where are you going Ray?” Birdie asks as he tries to flatten his feathers and squeeze away from the hens that are surrounding him. “I’m going for a little stretch. Would you like to join me?” Ray says as he walks by in a Hugh Hefner robe made of a burlap sack. “Yes!” Birdie accidently blurts out. “I mean, would you beautiful ladies excuse me for a moment?” Birdie adds quickly. “I love what you’ve done with your feathers Sally.” Birdie says to Sally as he slips past her to catch up with Ray “See…I told you he’d like my feathers this way!” Sally boasts to the other hens. (Birdie follows Ray down the coop ramp, across the yard, under a broken piece of chicken fence, around the back side of the barn) “Good morning Betty Sue.” Rays says as he walks under the cow and gives her utter a high five, which causes her to moo. “Don’t try and talk to the horse. He’s a stuck on himself.” Ray says as he walks past the horse stable. “That is Dodge.” Ray says as he points at a droopy eared dog in the corner. “He doesn’t move much anymore.” “Hold onto this rope and make sure to keep your wings inside the elevator.” Ray says as he leads Birdie onto a dumbbell waiter with no walls and a piece of rope in the middle. Once Birdie is holding onto the rope the dumbbell waiter begins shot up. “I’ve never been this high before.” Birdie says “Except when that duck, I mean goose, gave me a lift.” “You haven’t seen nothing yet.” Ray says after they reach the top, he steps out of the dumbbell waiter, and slides a piece of the roof back. “Last night was a magnificent display of how beautiful this life can be.” Ray says he hangs up his burlap sack robe and saunters over to the opening in the roof. “You’re not going out there…are you?” Birdie asks in horror. “Of course my friend. Life isn’t as beautiful if you don’t take any chances.” Ray says with a smile and hops out the hole onto the roof of the barn. “Come on out Birdie, the world is beautiful today.” (For a moment, Birdie looks around hesitantly, but then crawls out the hole onto the roof.) “I’m not frightened.” Birdie says as he slowly crawls out onto the roof of the barn. “I like to come up here in the morning and thank the Sun for another glorious day. First, I like to stretch a little and then stand-up as tall as possible.” Ray says after doing a little squat and stretching his wings. “Ok.” Birdie says while trying to keep his balance and stretching at the same time on the narrow ridge of the barn’s roof. “Next, I flap my wings a couple times and yell…Thank you Sun!!!” Ray yells as he flaps his wings. “Now you try.” (Birdie stands up straight, takes a deep breath, begins to flap his wings, and a gust of wind lifts into the sky.) “Thank you…Help Ray.” Birdie yells as he drifts away from the barn. “Keep waving your arms and aim for a hay stack.” Ray yells back with a smile on his face. (As Birdie tries to flap his wings simultaneously, he falls into an alternated rhythm that sends him spiraling out of control into one of the many hay stacks.) “Are you ok Birdie?” Ray yells from the roof of the barn. “I can fly Ray!” Birdie yells after he pokes his head from the hay stack. “Take it easy my rooster friend. You caught a lucky gust of wind.” Ray yells back to try and prevent any further disappointment. “No, watch.” Birdie yells as he emerges from the hay and cleans himself off. “Watch this!” Birdie yells and begins to flap his wings. At first, he can’t get his wings to flap at the same time, but eventually he gets the pattern right and begins to float from the top of the hay stack. “Well I’ll be.” Ray says in amazement. “See, I can fly.” Birdie yells as he begins to gain height. “Muy bueno my friend…Muy bueno.” Ray says in envy as he watches Birdie get higher and higher. “Come on Ray. What are you waiting for?” Birdie yells laughs in delight as he zooms past Ray. “Remember to never dance the Flamingo!” Ray yells, but Birdie is too caught up in dive-bombing the tree adjacent the farm house. (For a minute or so, Birdie enjoys twisting and turning about the sky until he sees a group of birds zig-zagging above him. Excited, Birdie tries his hardest to catch the wondering pack of birds.) “Hey, what are you guys doing?” Birdie yells as he tries to keep up with the group of birds that are zigging and zagging about the sky. “I don’t know…Ask John.” A breathless bird yells back. “Who’s John?” Birdie asks as he almost runs into the bird he is talking to. “I thought he was the leader we were following. Ask Frances who John is.” The breathless bird yells back. “Hey, who is John?” Birdie yells after he flaps up to Frances. “Sacrebleu…he is the idiot who started this game of follow the leader.” Frances yells “Follow the what?” Birdie yells back, but the pack abruptly changes directions and Birdie runs into anther bird. Birdie locks feet with the bird and causes the two birds to spiral out of the control towards the ground. “You gotta let go kid.” Jazz yells as they get closer to the ground. “Oh, sorry.” Birdie yells, releases his hold on the bird, and then crashes into a tree. “You’re crazy kid!” Jazz yells at Birdie after he lands on a branch adjacent to Birdie, who trying to dust himself off and check for broken feathers. “That was a blast! Let’s do it again!” Yells with excitement. “Ok, but you’ve got to do all the flapping this time.” Jazz agrees. (For several minutes, Birdie and Jazz take turns twirling each other about as the fall from the sky until they both collapse in a pile of leaves completely exhausted.) “I like your style kid. I’m Jazz.” The blue jay says as he tries to catch his breath. “I’m Birdie. What were those other birds doing?” Birdie asks “Just a stupid game of follow the leader. I usually prefer to fly my own way, but I was bored today. Come on, I know a good watering hole near here.” Jazz says as he gets up and dusts himself off. “I’ll race you to it.” Birdie yells and takes off. “How is it a race when you don’t know where the finish line is?” Jazz yells at Birdie as he takes off in pursuit.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 20:29:46 +0000
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