Well, friends, I realized that my cultural experiences did not stop when I came back to Provo. Nor did out-of-the-ordinary events stop occurring on a day-to-day basis. For a few weeks ago, while going on a sun-rise morning run, I ran past a small white student house to find a sandy-colored chicken pecking innocently in their front yard. My surprise was such that I slowed down and said hi. She just looked at me and went on pecking.
My journal entry of October 12 describes the continuation of the story:
I ran past the White House again this week, to find Nuggets, the sketchy-looking chicken, pecking around in the front yard, for the umpteenth time… Why that chicken tags that house like a stray cat, sleeping under a bush and pecking around the yard every morning at eight o’clock, I will never know. I looked for eggs, but in vain. I think the strange red growths on neck and head may be an indicator of the fact that Nuggets is, in fact, male.
My curiosity got the better of me. I talked a friend who I had once seen at the white house with some friends, informing him that whether or not he lived there, the owners of the home ought to be informed that they had a stray chicken problem. He let me know that they were fully aware, and that the chicken's name was Nuggets. So the next time I passed the house, I greeted Nuggets by name. And the next time I passed the house, I saw someone sitting outside it, and got the full story from them (and discovered that Nuggets is female, and has layed a total of ONE egg). Here I include my journal excerpt from October 18:
I retract my statement of last week. Turns out I DID in fact find out why Nuggets hangs around that house: he was put inside the house by some pranking girls a month or two ago, and has been there ever since. I’m comforted to know that some of life’s greatest mysteries DO get solved in this lifetime.
I also came to learn that Nuggets had a Facebook profile, and was overjoyed when she accepted my friend request. She has 145 Facebook friends to date, and is becoming quite the Provo celebrity. Rumor has it that people are now driving past the white house, honking, and shouting out greetings to Nuggets.
And I repeat, Provo is not without things of cultural significance.
