By Siona Kirschner
We all know of the famous road-crossing chicken, whose seemingly remarkable feat has been reduced to a popular question and answer anyone over the age of three can recite on command. Achieving this level of fame over such a simple task is unique but what stands out even more about this famed chicken is the low profile it has managed to maintain through its rising popularity in pop culture. It’s extremely rare that someone so well known has managed to remain almost invisible. In fact, it seems that no one knows anything about the chicken himself at all. In securing an interview with the chicken, I have most likely reached the peak of my journalistic career and seen a perspective of a famous story never heard before. The story he shared with me, which I will now share with you, is something I feel incredibly privileged to have heard firsthand.
The chicken, as many of us often do, woke up one morning craving some McDonald's chicken nuggets (not sponsored, hmu if you're seeing this McDonald's). He stepped outside of his apartment, the fresh air ruffling his feathers, and made his way down the block. The midday sun (he had slept in) hung over his head and the streets were quiet. Now, if you were imagining that not much would change when he reached the street, you would be sorely mistaken. To this day, the chicken is not quite sure what happened, or why this fateful day was so different, but as he stepped onto the first white stripe of the crosswalk, passersby stopped and stared. Some shied away from him, and two even turned and ran. The cars all stopped the minute they saw the chicken, even if they could have driven much further before hitting the light. Reflecting on this when talking to me, the chicken remembered that the main emotion he felt was bewilderment. He stood in the middle of the road for a second in confusion before resolving to ignore the gawking and carry on. Unfortunately, he was stopped by one woman who, braver than the rest, came up to him.
"Forgive me if this is an insensitive question, but can I ask why you're crossing the road, Chicken?" the woman inquired, clearly nervous about how her question would be received. The chicken thought this over for a minute, not quite sure what to say. He crossed this road almost every day and he supposed his objective was the same as almost anyone else's when they did the same.
"To get to the other side," he replied, beginning to question whether perhaps, considering that the question was being asked with so much built-up suspense, he needed a better answer. To his surprise, and tentative relief, everyone around him who had not fled burst into laughter. In our conversation, the chicken revealed to me with a laugh that to this day he isn’t even sure why this was viewed as so hilarious.
"To get to the other side!" one man chortled, barely able to contain himself from doubling over in a fit of laughter, "I need to tell the guys at work about this one!"
A toddler shrieked gleefully, chanting "Other side! Other side!" as it waved its stuffed animal in the air in delight.
The chicken felt awkward and stood there while those around him celebrated his run-of-the-mill answer. Finally, he continued the cross, eventually making it to the "other side" he had impressed everyone by mentioning.
He's not sure whether he'll ever understand what happened but unlike most of us, who want to know why the chicken crossed the road, he wants to know why anyone asked him that in the first place.
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