The Gallus Gallus Domesticus Organization

Yesterday evening I decided to drop in on my parents after work for a visit. It had been a few days since I had made a pit stop, and I figured that I'd stop by and get the usual dirt from my mom. This usually consisted of things my sister has done that she disapproves of, and the normal local rhetoric. It's something I enjoy, and I wouldn't trade my visits with her for the world.

I pulled up at the house to notice another car already there, it was an old friend of the family, and I was pretty upbeat about getting to chat with them as well as my parents. As I entered the house, I got a rush of memories just from the smell. My parents house smells like that box of keepsakes from your first love that we all kept in a special hiding place. Later in life we would discover it again, blow a thin layer of dust from the shoe box lid and take an unfulfilled emotional ride. This is how I feel when I enter my parents house, and that smell always brings me back to childhood.

When I entered the house, I moved directly to the kitchen which has always been and will always remain the epicenter of visiting. If those kitchen walls could talk, I think they would choose not to speak, because they would figure enough talking had gone on in that room for a hundred lifetimes, and not an extra word need be said. 

In the kitchen sitting at the table was my mom and Miss Gail, an old friend of hers, both elbow deep in old pictures. Apparently, they had began talking about some random individuals cousins, brothers, uncle or something, and my mom insisted she had a picture of this person. This had launched and all out picture-quest of epic proportions. As they were going through stacks and stacks of old images that were yellowed and weathered in time Miss Gail made a discovery that she found a bit off. She said, "What the heck is going on here?" The picture she held up to show us can be described as such:

The interior of a van, the camera facing the second row of seats. You can tell the van is packed for vacation, and in three edges of the images are laughing faces, my mom, sister & grandmother. Framed in center is my niece Hannah, only about five at the time. Her face is forever captured, red with tears streaming down her face, and a pitiful face that didn't just convey being upset, but a genuine expression that illustrated how hurt her feelings were. So the resulting image, taken by her father, shows three grown women laughing hysterically, not with, but at this unbelievably distraught child. 

My mom couldn't recall what the picture was about, and within thirty seconds they had moved on in their hunt. Little did they know that the image and situation surrounding it had resulted in one of the more poignant experiences in my life.

I knew for a fact that this image had been shot in upstate New York, and of all places at the speaker area of a Burger King drive-thru. My mom, grandmother and I had drove up to visit relatives that lived in a remote area of the Adirondack Mountains. A quaint little house nuzzled in the foothills. My sister, niece and brother-in-law (at the time) Paul could not drive with us due to work, so had decided to fly up and meet us a few days later. 

We had just picked them up from the airport, and Hannah, having just gotten off the flight from heavy sleep was hungry and cranky. We all decided to let her choose where to eat, and in doing so, it seemed to lift her spirits a little. She decided on Burger King, and that was just fine with everyone and was even commended her on making a fine selection.  Paul in the drivers seat, pulled up to the ordering area in the BK and leaned back to get everyones order. He got Hannah's order first, which was a cheeseburger (plain) kids meal with a Dr. Pepper. After she said it, Paul relayed it to the half broken speaker and took the next one of our orders. I sitting in the way-back was last to order and I decided that I wasn't in the mood for a burger, but more a chicken sandwich. So I relayed my order of a chicken club combo to Paul who told it to the speaker and completed our order. As we began to pull to to that infamous "first window", Hannah began to cry and sob and was in all noticeably very upset. Everyone kinda noticed and my mom put her arm around her and said, "Boo, what's the matter?" Hannah looked up at her with teary eyes, and said..."but Granny....I wanted to be in the Chicken Club..." It was just about the funniest thing to have ever come out of her mouth. The resulting picture looks like three grown adults laughing at a crying child. 

The laughing eventually subsided and we ate our meals on the ride to our relatives house. After settling in, the night progressed and I could tell that all day Hannah had just not been herself. That evening I called Hannah to the living room and popped her on my knee and asked her what had been bothering her. With some prying she disclosed to me that the whole misunderstanding with the chicken club had really embarrassed her and she felt so silly for not understanding. I told her that she was five, and she had a lot of little things to learn. After a pep talk, she seemed a little better, but still not up to her bubbly standards. 

Following our chat, I found some paper, a few color pencils and a single blue crayon. I went to work and an hour or so later I found her at the table and told her when the big hand on the clock was on the six to come to the living room for a "secret meeting". She was very excited and right on time she showed up. I helped her fill out the application I had made. After consideration by the board, she was accepted and taught the official handshake. And together in quiet we established and were inducted into "The Chicken Club". I can remember the smile on her face and the big hug I received. I put her to bed later that night and after tucking her in and putting the light out, she called me over and whispered, "Thanks, for letting me in The Chicken Club Uncle Dus." and then she giggled and rolled over to sleep. In my opinion it's moments like these that make life worth living. And I think together we learned that no idea, or question is too silly and anything is possible if you want it to be.  To date The Chicken Club or TCC still only currently has 2 members, and no expansion is seen in the near future.