As sister-in-law B was leaving the pizza party Saturday night, I asked how the rooster we had given her was doing. She gave me a funny, a little bit shamed look and I thought for sure she was going to tell me that he died. I braced for the worst...
Instead she started laughing and told me that he was out in the truck in front of our house. They had gone to visit her mother for the day, took the rooster with them, and then brought him to our house! His leg was tied to the hooks on the pickup bed.
The sad (and shameful) reason is that even though they live in a nice middle-class colonia in La Ceiba and their yard is completely fenced with a concrete muro, they can't leave anything outside without it being stolen. They've lost chairs, toys, bicycles, and a million other things of practically no value. They've lost things at night, during the daytime, when they've only walked a block away to the pulpería (convenience store), and even when they have been at home.
They plan to get a cage for the rooster, but in the meantime, either someone stays at home at all times to guard the rooster or they take him with them! Not only would the rooster be something free, but it is also something to EAT − a double theft-threat. Another friend who lives in a very upscale community had her hen stolen.
Once I gave her some Moses in a Cradle (Rhoeo spathacea) for her garden. This is an extremely common plant in Honduras. It's easy to start from cuttings and spreads rapidly. There is no need to buy it, ever. We bought four tiny plants and now could cover an average sized lot with it if we wanted to. She was going to plant it around the outside of her fence. She left the cuttings there for a few minutes while she went inside to get her garden tools and when she came out, it was gone. All of it.
But, back to the rooster: The kids have turned him into a pet parakeet-rooster. They love their rooster. All they have to do is hold out their arm and the rooster hops up on it and sits like a parakeet while they pet him. That is just too funny.
Sorry I don't have a photo of it. The photo above is of our first rooster, the beloved Ramón who sadly has gone to rooster heaven.
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