Escape - Rootbeer Goes to Austin - Part 3

There she was, Rootbeer the Traveling Chicken locked in a cage in the back of a mini-van, anticipating a life in a suburban Texas back yard.


"This is not for the birds" said Rootbeer in her cage as the mini-van loaded down with the nice little girl (that wanted a really truly free range chicken) and her family headed west on 4th street.

Rootbeer's cage leaned to the left as Nice Little Girl's Mom turned right (a little bit too fast for Rootbeer's taste) on San Antonio street. Then there was the left at west 6th street where a bright blue sportster stopped almost clear of the intersection and the rider would have had a start at how close the front of his bike came to the side of the mini-van, had he not been flirting with the pretty blonde in the convertible camaro to his right. Then it was left again at Baylor Street, a quick swoop into a parking spot and everyone, Nice Little Girl, Mom, Brother and Dad all tumbled out of the mini-van. Dad popped up the back window of the mini-van because everyone knows that you shouldn't leave a chicken cooped up in the back of a closed vehicle in the sun, even if you are only going to look at the Treaty Oak for just a minute.

While the family took photos in front of the famous but sadly smaller tree, Rootbeer realized that this was her only chance at escape. Removing a hat pin from her hat (how else did you think that Rootbeer kept her hat on?), Rootbeer pushed up from below on the pin in the latch for her cage with the hat pin and grabbed the top with her beak. Pulling the pin out, allowed the hasp to fall over and the cage door to swing open. Wasting not a second, Rootbeer flew out the open back window (chickens can fly you know - just not very far -- but Rootbeer IS a traveling chicken, she practiced), scampered across the park lawn and before anyone in the Nice Family could notice, Rootbeer flew up into the branches of the Treaty Oak, where she tucked her head under her wing where she started a very long nap.