"Unique Chicken goes in Reverse"

I have had the opportunity to enjoy quiet an interesting short read during my breaks from studying. “Unique Chicken goes in Reverse” by Andy Duncan is a very funny short story that I can’t quite place in a genre as it is odd, but therein lays the actual charm. The main character is Father Leggit from St. John the Baptist, who is sent to the O’Connor’s family to deal with little Mary.

The reason he is called is because little Mary believes one of the chicken, which is all frizzled, to be the manifestation of Jesus Christ. Now the reason behind is that in the bible, which Mary studies at school, has a verse about Jesus actually drawing a comparison between him and a hen. In the actual story the chicken does show some untypical behavior like walking backwards and being isolated from the other chickens. It’s funny to see how the concern of Father Leggit about Mary damaging her psyche over this unorthodox worship, becomes reality but for the Father himself as he seems to develop a phobia of chicken, since obsesses himself to the point everything that comes to mind is the word chicken.

For me this funny read is really thought provoking as it strikes several topics such as belief in God and whether he isn’t every single one of his creations, in this case a chicken. That being said I can’t stop but to ask myself if that God can manifest himself through a chicken, is the human version also possible, but that is just my rambling. Viewing the human psyche is important here and what it can accomplish as in the case of Father Leggit, who manages to delude himself to believe that the girl may not be imagining.

Quite interesting in deed. I recommend "Unique Chicken goes in Reverse" to everyone, who would like to spend 15 minutes in the company of amusing Father Leggit and chicken Jesus.