Philip L. Houston - Animals in My Neighborhood: The Story of Roy the Rooster

ANIMALS
IN MY
NEIGHBORHOOD

The Story of Roy the Rooster

Philip L. Houston

Copyright 2015 Philip L. Houston.

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ISBN: 978-1-4897-0532-7 (sc)

ISBN:978-1-4897-0531-0 (e)

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 09/10/2015

Dedication

To my grandchildren: Larkin, Liam, Taylor, Oliver and R iley

Cock-a-doodle-do! That is how roosters wake everyone on a farm because chores start early in the morning on a farm.

Roy the rooster lived on a farm in the country. His daddy, Big Red, was the head rooster and everyone loved him. Roy wanted everyone to love him too, but there could only be one head rooster.

Roy decided to leave and find his own farm where he could be the head rooster. Very early one morning while it was still dark, Roy set out on a journey to find his own farm.

He walked for miles and miles, but he could not find a farm to call his own. Soon the day was over and it was dark. Roy was sleepy. He looked for a safe place to sleep, so he flew onto the branches of a tree beside the road. Maybe tomorrow I will find my new farm, Roy said.

As he walked the days passed, day two, day three and still Roy did not find a farm to call his own. Just when he wanted to give up, he saw some houses. Maybe that will be my new farm, shouted Roy.

The houses were not in the country. They were in the city. Roy went from house to house but did not see any chickens. There were no farm animals, only cats, dogs, squirrels, and lots of people.

Roy was very hungry. He ate worms and bugs and drank water from a creek. He missed the cracked corn that the farmer gave him at his old farm. He missed his friends too.

Roy found a row of trees between some houses that were perfect for a place to sleep. The trees were very tall and had soft leaves for a bed. From there he could see all around the neighborhood. Very late at night, long before dawn, Roy crowed, Cock-a-doodle-do, Cock-a-doodle-do, Cock-a-doodle-do. He crowed for hours hoping someone would hear him. Someone did hear him, the neighbors. They were not used to hearing a rooster crowing in their neighbor hood.

Did you hear that? said Ms. Judy to her husband, Mr. Jack. He was fast asleep. Did you hear that? Ms. Judy said again, I heard a rooster. Mr. Jack woke up and said, There are no roosters in the city. Go back to s leep.

Roy crowed again, Cock-a-doodle-do, Cock-a-doodle-do. Mr. Jack sat up in the bed and said, I heard a rooster! What is a rooster doing in the city? A rooster should be on a farm. That rooster will wake the whole neighbor hood!

That is exactly what happened. Lights came on everywhere. Roy thought that was a good thing. He would keep cock-a-doodle-doing every morning so that the people would wake in time to do their chores. These were city people. Their chores were very different from farm chores. For that reason, they did not have to wake as early as a fa rmer.

They didnt need a rooster to wake them because they had clock radios and cell phones. Roy knew nothing about clocks or phones. He just kept crowing, Cock-a-doodle-do, Cock-a-doodle-do, day after day for weeks. The people in the neighborhood were losing sleep every night because Roy would not stop cock-a-doodle-d oing.

The trees where Roy slept were behind Ms. Judys and Mr. Jacks house. Ms. Judy felt sorry for poor Roy. She gave him cracked corn to eat and water to drink, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. She even cooked some popcorn for him. Roy thought Ms. Judy was a farmer.

Some of the neighbors decided to catch Roy. But how do you catch a rooster? No one had ever caught a rooster before. The neighbors decided to call the city animal catchers.

The animal catchers came and placed a trap near the row of trees where Roy slept. Everyone knew that the trap was too small. It was only one foot high, but Roy was two feet tall. He would not fit in that trap. We need a bigger trap, said Mr. Jack. I agree, said Ms. Judy. I have a friend that has a coyote trap. It is 3 feet tall and 5 feet long! She will let us use it to catch the roo ster.