Chicken Little

Chicken Little

The worst of situations can sometimes bring the best of outcomes. At least, that is what Jude Mulvani of Hawaii has come to believe. Jude was once your typical, ordinary teenage boy. He had his clique of friends, his girlfriend, his parents and siblings—and he had college to attend next year. But one day, all this changed.

Along with most of his jock friends, Jude owned a “macho-man” sports car that he loved to drive—fast. On the first nice day in April, he took this pretty little car of his and began a journey to the lake to meet up with his girlfriend. Suddenly, there was a loud thump on his windshield. Jude jumped and jerked the car quickly over to the side of the highway. To his amazement, Jude saw—almost glued to his windshield—a bird. But this wasn’t just any bird; it was a stuffed bird…wearing glasses that had obviously been stolen from Chicken Little.

Jude jumped out of his car as quickly as he could—but he was surprised again before he had time to freak out. As he moved his previously sneakered feet from the vehicle to the asphalt, they dissolved into three long, separated toes—just like a bird. From there, the changes were much quicker. As Jude tried to scream, his lips were changed into a beak and all that came out was a tiny “chirp”. As he went to run, his arms were changed into wings and he levitated slightly, unexpectedly, slamming his newly feathered head onto the roadway.

Writhing in pain for no longer than a minute of two, Jude finally leaned up and glanced down to his body. Was this really him? Was he really now a creature that flew into windows? (And furthermore, how the heck did a stuffed bird end up on his windshield?). He pinched himself—well…clawed himself rather—just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming and closed his eyes tightly, as if the tighter he closed them the quicker this weird nightmare would end. Upon opening them, however, he was still just a bird in the road, staring at a little red sports car. Oh my gosh, my car…how am I ever going to drive it NOW?! He thought, ..and what about Ava? I was supposed to meet her—now she’s going to I ditched her again and go on one of her ‘refusing to talk to me’ sprees. He sighed, thinking back through all the things he was going to miss because of this freak nightmare. And what about college?? I’ll never be able to go anywhere looking like this. And I was supposed to take mom to the doctor today and Tommy to his tee-ball game tomorrow afternoon—I’ll scare him looking like this! All this time he spent thinking, he seemed to have forgotten that he was a small creature in the middle of a three-lane highway. That was, until he caught a glimpse of an enormous black truck coming right at him.

Out of instinct, Jude attempted to run—which in turn only flapped his wings. Before he knew it, Jude was high above the wheels of the truck, looking down at the car whizzing by on the road beneath him. He glanced around him, noting the calm sky and peaceful nothing sounds, and suddenly it occurred to him that maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing after all. To fly was like driving anywhere at four a.m.—no traffic. To fly was like being in a personal plan—no one bickering in your ear. To fly was like being single—no one to have ridiculous fights with. To fly was like being four years old again—no major decision to make. To fly was like moving out for the first time—total independence. To fly was the answer to everything.