ROOSTER COOPER and the love bug
Rooster Cooper has strange chest pains. Something is pulling his insides out, like being forced in a direction he has not yet gone. He thinks it best to go to the doctor.
The doctor examines poor Rooster, and then announces, “You need a chest rest!” The doctor gives him a bottle of gooey purple syrup.
Rooster goes back to the chicken coop. But after awhile the pains return and now he also has a stomachache. The medicine hasn’t helped. Rooster worry-hurries to the doctor.
“Tell me about it,” the doctor asks.
“It all started about a month ago,” Rooster explains, "...ahh, eehh..."
He complains of sweet pangs of happiness, yet, at other times, he feels the stab of lonely sadness.
“Take some vitamins!” suggests the doctor and gives the sick red bird a bottle of green and blue tablets.
Rooster goes back to the coop. He wants to tell Henna Henie how he is feeling but when he goes to say something to her no words come out! He turns and runs back to the doctor.
“Now I can’t talk!” Rooster says.
“You’re talking fine,” observes the doctor.
“I don’t feel right.”
“You need a shot,” the doctor says. And gives him one, a really big one.
Rooster limps back to the coop. The colorful coop is busy rolling out pearly white eggs, yet the place seems so gray and empty to Rooster. He starts feeling that sadness again. He is about to take some pills when Henie enters and wiggles right by in swirling colors. The pills fall to the floor. Rooster feels like his heart is an egg that is about to hatch. “Oh no, not again,” he scurry-worries.
He tries not to show Henie his miserable condition. She smiles at him. A spurt of something wonderful shoots up through his head making it bop uncontrollably.
I must be very sick, Rooster Cooper thinks as he watches Henna Henie exit the coop. The chest pains stop. But then that hole-in-the-stomach ache comes back, and a wave of sadness washes away his good mood into a grainy black and white fog. He stumbles down the steps rushing back to the doctor.
But the confused doctor has run out of diseases, so he sends Rooster to another doctor, a special brain framer. Rooster once again explains his illnesses. The brain doctor listens carefully and makes many notes, “Hmm...feels happy, then sad...trouble speaking... hmm...”
The doctor pauses, scratches a hundred times, then shouts, “I know – you’ve got an allergy!”
“An allergy?” Rooster says.
“Yes!" announces the brain framer, " Write down when your illness starts and stops. I’ll take it from there!”
Rooster goes back to work clutching a pen and paper in his black claw.
Henie is piling some straw when Rooster returns. “Can, can you help me?” she asks. She'd only been there for a month and seemed very nervous clucking around Rooster.
Rooster again feels speechless and just nods. He writes it down, can’t speak. Then he quietly helps her nudge the straw into a pile. A couple of times their beaks meet. Rooster almost faints. He writes it down, weakness. Henie wants to ask Rooster why he ran away and why he stopped clucking with her, but Rooster speaks up first: “I I I I’ve been si-sick,” Rooster stutter shudders. He feels a cannonball trapped in his chest. He writes it down, I’m gonna explode.
As he is scrawling his symptoms on the paper, she tells him, “I, I , I’ll be leaving soon.”
“Go away!?” crows Rooster in shock, “No...”
He collapses on the straw; paper and pen squished in his claw.
Henie cries, “Help!” Then Henna Henie collapses next to Rooster Cooper.
The doctor rushes to the coop. The brain framer flies over quickly. They spray water on Henie and she wakes up enough to tell them that she has been having shivers & shakes and chest pains since she came to the coop. She has been feeling strange too. The illness has become so bad that she thought she had better leave while she still had the strength to do so.
“Ah ha!” the brain doctor understands, “You’ve had stomachaches too? And difficulty speaking?” Henie nods then leans back next to Rooster on the golden straw. Rooster wakes and is hypnotized at the site of Henie laying next to him. He grins so wide that his beak cracks. He thinks he's dreaming and falls back down next to Henie. They both start to giggle.
“Look, they are delirious!” the doctor observes.
“I knew it!” said the brain doctor, “a virus, a contagious virus!”
The doctors scream, "Run everyone! Scoot! Scoot! Skidaddle!!"
Suddenly the coop fills with squawking, squirming panic. A hurricane of hens whirl and swirl and skidaddle. Straw flies up, eggs fly by, and everyone flies out!
"We must close down this coop!” the doctors announce. “Isolation for those two!”
Those two, Henna Henie and Rooster Cooper, are finally left alone. Oh, the sounds pouring out of the coop all night – moaning and groaning, clawing and crowing, giggles and squiggles, cluck-cluck-clucking and much cock-a-doodle-doing spewing!
Early next morning the coop is silent. The doctors wearing bright yellow hazmat costumes left over from Halloween enter the quiet coop. Instead of finding two dead birds they find Rooster and Henie nestled nicely, very much alive in perfect health and ready for a bright new day.
The doctors are overwhelmed with joy at the miraculous success of their treatment. They anticipate a very prestigious award soon.
"Rooster Cooper" story from "TailTales" © 2000 by John Kirkmire, © 2015 Kirkworkshop. All rights reserved.
return to stories page
Rooster Cooper has strange chest pains. Something is pulling his insides out, like being forced in a direction he has not yet gone. He thinks it best to go to the doctor.
The doctor examines poor Rooster, and then announces, “You need a chest rest!” The doctor gives him a bottle of gooey purple syrup.
Rooster goes back to the chicken coop. But after awhile the pains return and now he also has a stomachache. The medicine hasn’t helped. Rooster worry-hurries to the doctor.
“Tell me about it,” the doctor asks.
“It all started about a month ago,” Rooster explains, "...ahh, eehh..."
He complains of sweet pangs of happiness, yet, at other times, he feels the stab of lonely sadness.
“Take some vitamins!” suggests the doctor and gives the sick red bird a bottle of green and blue tablets.
Rooster goes back to the coop. He wants to tell Henna Henie how he is feeling but when he goes to say something to her no words come out! He turns and runs back to the doctor.
“Now I can’t talk!” Rooster says.
“You’re talking fine,” observes the doctor.
“I don’t feel right.”
“You need a shot,” the doctor says. And gives him one, a really big one.
Rooster limps back to the coop. The colorful coop is busy rolling out pearly white eggs, yet the place seems so gray and empty to Rooster. He starts feeling that sadness again. He is about to take some pills when Henie enters and wiggles right by in swirling colors. The pills fall to the floor. Rooster feels like his heart is an egg that is about to hatch. “Oh no, not again,” he scurry-worries.
He tries not to show Henie his miserable condition. She smiles at him. A spurt of something wonderful shoots up through his head making it bop uncontrollably.
I must be very sick, Rooster Cooper thinks as he watches Henna Henie exit the coop. The chest pains stop. But then that hole-in-the-stomach ache comes back, and a wave of sadness washes away his good mood into a grainy black and white fog. He stumbles down the steps rushing back to the doctor.
But the confused doctor has run out of diseases, so he sends Rooster to another doctor, a special brain framer. Rooster once again explains his illnesses. The brain doctor listens carefully and makes many notes, “Hmm...feels happy, then sad...trouble speaking... hmm...”
The doctor pauses, scratches a hundred times, then shouts, “I know – you’ve got an allergy!”
“An allergy?” Rooster says.
“Yes!" announces the brain framer, " Write down when your illness starts and stops. I’ll take it from there!”
Rooster goes back to work clutching a pen and paper in his black claw.
Henie is piling some straw when Rooster returns. “Can, can you help me?” she asks. She'd only been there for a month and seemed very nervous clucking around Rooster.
Rooster again feels speechless and just nods. He writes it down, can’t speak. Then he quietly helps her nudge the straw into a pile. A couple of times their beaks meet. Rooster almost faints. He writes it down, weakness. Henie wants to ask Rooster why he ran away and why he stopped clucking with her, but Rooster speaks up first: “I I I I’ve been si-sick,” Rooster stutter shudders. He feels a cannonball trapped in his chest. He writes it down, I’m gonna explode.
As he is scrawling his symptoms on the paper, she tells him, “I, I , I’ll be leaving soon.”
“Go away!?” crows Rooster in shock, “No...”
He collapses on the straw; paper and pen squished in his claw.
Henie cries, “Help!” Then Henna Henie collapses next to Rooster Cooper.
The doctor rushes to the coop. The brain framer flies over quickly. They spray water on Henie and she wakes up enough to tell them that she has been having shivers & shakes and chest pains since she came to the coop. She has been feeling strange too. The illness has become so bad that she thought she had better leave while she still had the strength to do so.
“Ah ha!” the brain doctor understands, “You’ve had stomachaches too? And difficulty speaking?” Henie nods then leans back next to Rooster on the golden straw. Rooster wakes and is hypnotized at the site of Henie laying next to him. He grins so wide that his beak cracks. He thinks he's dreaming and falls back down next to Henie. They both start to giggle.
“Look, they are delirious!” the doctor observes.
“I knew it!” said the brain doctor, “a virus, a contagious virus!”
The doctors scream, "Run everyone! Scoot! Scoot! Skidaddle!!"
Suddenly the coop fills with squawking, squirming panic. A hurricane of hens whirl and swirl and skidaddle. Straw flies up, eggs fly by, and everyone flies out!
"We must close down this coop!” the doctors announce. “Isolation for those two!”
Those two, Henna Henie and Rooster Cooper, are finally left alone. Oh, the sounds pouring out of the coop all night – moaning and groaning, clawing and crowing, giggles and squiggles, cluck-cluck-clucking and much cock-a-doodle-doing spewing!
Early next morning the coop is silent. The doctors wearing bright yellow hazmat costumes left over from Halloween enter the quiet coop. Instead of finding two dead birds they find Rooster and Henie nestled nicely, very much alive in perfect health and ready for a bright new day.
The doctors are overwhelmed with joy at the miraculous success of their treatment. They anticipate a very prestigious award soon.
"Rooster Cooper" story from "TailTales" © 2000 by John Kirkmire, © 2015 Kirkworkshop. All rights reserved.
return to stories page