The Chickens & the City Council of San Juan Bautista

By Paul J Shanley

In 2006. the City of San Juan Bautista, California, passed a law against feeding wild chickens.
A tourist from Maine, and a rooster named SIR, decide that the City Council's law is wrong, oppressive, and trivial. In an act of Civil Disobedience, they and the other chickens in town band together to disobey the City Council's law and get the tourists and the free food they give the chickens back again.
This novel is their story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781387586516

Book preview

The Chickens & the City Council of San Juan Bautista

The Chickens & the City Council of San Juan Bautista

by

Paul J. Shanley

ISBN: 978-1-387-58651-6

PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

© 2018 by Paul J. Shanley

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

But, first,

Dedicated To Those Citizens of San Juan Bautista, California, Who Enjoy Wild Chickens.

With Thanks To Celia who inspired me to write this droll tale.

Should we obey all the laws of our land?  What if a law is wrong, oppressive, or trivial?

In 1775, George Washington supported a boycott of British products and began the American Revolution.  In 1915, Irish immigrants found jobs in spite of the unwritten law which said, No Irish need apply.  In 1958, Rosa Parks, a black woman, would not give up her seat at the front of a bus to a white man, and desegregation began.

In 2006. the City of San Juan Bautista, California, passed a law against feeding wild chickens.

A tourist from Maine, and a rooster named SIR, decide that the City Council's law is wrong, oppressive, and trivial.  In an act of Civil Disobedience, they and the other chickens in town band together to disobey the City Council's law and get the tourists and the free food they give the chickens back again.

This novel is their story.

*  CALIFORNIA *

Hollister Free Lance Newspaper Front Page Story By Danielle Smith CHICKENS!  YOUR GOOSE IS COOKED!

After years of debate, San Juan Bautista approves an ordinance outlawing chicken feeding!

Chapter 1 Squawk listens in

Good afternoon.  That hot buttered popcorn sure looks and smells delicious.

The tourist stared at me.

You can talk, he said in a low voice.  Then he looked around, probably to be sure that no one saw him talking to a rooster.

Well . . . yes . . .  is that unusual?

Yes, it is.  Where I come from, in the State of Maine, roosters can't talk.  Do you talk to the townspeople here in San Juan Bautista, California?

Oh, no, I said.  They are so busy with the routines of their lives that they would never believe we can talk.  However, tourists are always looking for new experiences, so that's why we chickens talk only to tourists.

The tourist from Maine looked stunned.  Then he seemed to accept the fact that I could talk, and we began a very productive conversation.

That hot, buttered popcorn you are eating smells delicious,

I said.  I hoped that repeating my earlier observation would make him take the hint and share some with me.

It sure is.  Would you like some?

I would be delighted.

. . . peck . . . peck . . . peck . . . peck . . . peck . . . peck . . .

Thanks.  That was excellent.  I wiped my beak against some grass.  Then I said, It's nice to have a treat now and then.  I know everyone who lives in town, and it's also nice to talk with someone from out of town.

This is my first experience with your delightful town of San Juan Bautista where chickens walk the streets.  And talk.  Do you live right here in town with your family?

I sure do.  One of my three hens, Chur-r-r-r-k, is sitting on six eggs right now.  Just look diagonally to your right from this pepper tree.  Do you see that vacant lot with the big tree on it?

Yes.

Well, that's where my three hens and I have a nest -- in the vacant lot, on the other side of that big tree, on the southwest corner of Third and Muckelemi Streets.

That looks like a nice place to roost.

It sure is.  We don't even get wet when it rains because our nest is under a piece of flat metal that someone left there.  But it doesn't rain very much, and the weather is usually just right.

San Juan Bautista seems like a nice, quiet, town.  What's life like in this town for you chickens?

Well, living here used to be wonderful for us.  But things are getting tougher every day.

They are?!  Would you care to tell me about it?

"Sure.