PDF handout of the 32 Powerpoints - Mark Fullmer

6/5/2012Mr. Eduardo Cruz lived in the nearby town of Alcala. He had studiedpoultry husbandry at Los Banos, and he operated a large egg farm."Mr. Cruz," Kiko said, when we arrived. "Is this a hen or a rooster?"Mr. Cruz looked at the bird curiously and then said:"Hmmm. I don't know.""Well, is there any way you can tell?""Why sure. Look at the feathers on its back. If the ends are round, it's ashe. If they are pointed, it's a he."We looked at the feathers.My brother sighed. The chicken, of course, had both round and pointedfeathers."Is there any other way you can tell?" I said."I could kill it and examine its insides.""No, no, I don't want to kill it," said my brother. "Ah! I know I can provethis is a rooster.""How?" I asked."(Anticipate and predict! How will thebrother prove that it is a rooster?)"Would you agree this is a rooster if it fights in a cockpit? And wins?"If this hen can beat a gamecock, I'll believe anything," I said.That Sunday, we took the chicken to the cockpit. Kiko looked aroundfor a suitable opponent and finally decided on a big, red rooster."Don't pit your hen against that rooster," I told Kiko. That rooster is nota native chicken. It was brought over from Texas. I heard about it. It haskilled more chickens than the cholera. No rooster in this province canbeat it. Pick an easier opponent."My brother would not listen. The match was made and the birds wereheaded for the killing. Sharp steel gaffs were tied to their left legs. Theodds were two to one. Kiko bet eight pesos on his chicken. I bet two.Then I said a prayer to Santa Rita de Casia, the patroness of theimpossible.Then the fight began. Both birds were released in the center of thearena. The Texan scratched the ground as if it were digging a grave forits opponent. I expected our bird to die of fright. Instead, a strangething happened.(What do you think is the strange thing that happened?)A lovesick expression came into the red rooster's eyes. Then it did alove dance. Naturally, this was a most surprising incident to one andall, but particularly to those who had stakes on the Texas rooster. For itwas evident that the Texan was thoroughly infatuated with our chickenand that any attention it had for the moment was strictly amatory. Butbefore anyone could collect his wits our bird rushed at the red stag andin one lunge it buried its spur in its adversary's breast. The fight wasover. The sentencer raised our chicken in victory."Tiope! Tiope! Fixed fight!" the crowd shouted.Then a riot broke out. People tore the bamboo benches apart and usedthem as clubs. My brother and I had to leave through the back way. Ihad the chicken under my arm. We ran towards the coconut groves andwe kept running till we lost the mob. As soon as we felt safe, we sat onthe ground and rested. We were bother panting like dogs."Now are you convinced it's a rooster?" Kiko muttered betweenbreaths."Yes," I grumbled, still clutching the bird. I was glad the whole thingwas over.(Build a good vocabulary. Do you know what all thehighlighted words mean?)But the rooster had other ideas. It began to quiver.Then something happened. I felt somethingsmooth and warm fall into my hand. The chickencackled. I looked down at my hand and saw it andsighed.The End3