Quietly, he crept around the chicken coop, doing his best to remain in the shadows. There was a big yard light up on top of a telephone pole near the old house and it cast its light illuminating everything all around, including the chicken coop. Duncan flattened himself by the side and listened intently for several minutes but all he could hear was the gentle blowing wind coming off the desert floor up into the highland foothills.
The door to the chicken coop opened with a slight squeak and Duncan winced in the dark. He stopped and held it open only halfway. It was a tight squeeze, but he was able to slip inside along with the sleeping hens. All was quiet except for when he reached in underneath them and felt for eggs. They clucked anxiously for a few moments, but then went silent again. He found three large eggs and was so hungry that he cracked them on the wood siding and ate them raw. He was about to grab a chicken and make a run for it when he thought he heard a slight rustle beside the house.
Suddenly a big black dog thrust its huge head into the doorway and barked loudly snarling and snapping at his leg. Duncan’s throat closed up in terror as he reached up for the top of the door and closed it shut on the dog’s snarling muzzle. A flashlight shone in through the cracks of the door. The air was filled with feathers as all of the chickens awoke at the same time, squawking, and flapping about.
“Who is it?” an old man shouted. “Who’s in there?” The dog continued to bark viciously and snarled as its nose snuffed underneath the rickety door. “Come on out of there you – whoever you are! I got me a shotgun on you and I ain’t afeerd to use it neither!”
Duncan held onto the door silently and looked around for another door or way out. There was none.
“Come on out of there!” The old man shouted. “If’n ya’ll don’t come out of there by the time I count three – I’m a going to blast you out!” Duncan could hear the double click of a shotgun. “One, two –”
“Alright, okay, okay! I’m coming out! Call off your dog. I don’t want to get bit!”
“Well now, that all depends on who you is! Come on out of there and we’ll all have a real good looky see. Dawson! Down boy! Down!” The dog stopped barking and snuffling at the door. He could hear him off a few yards away whining near the flashlight.
Duncan slowly opened the chicken coop door and the dog started barking again.
“Down, down!” The old man said. “Come on. Come on out. Let’s us have a look at you.”
Duncan opened the chicken door wide and held up his hand against the brilliant flashlight in his eyes.
“Hands up!” The old man said. “Get ‘em up! Up, up I say!”
Slowly, Duncan raised his hands above his head as the dog continued to bark and snarl viciously at him.
“Turn around!”
Slowly, Duncan turned to his side.
“All the way around! Let’s see your backside!”
Duncan turned all the way around.
“Gul-durned chicken thief! What’s that there lettering on your back?” The flashlight moved around and the old man took a step forward. “Aha! I know’d it! I know’d it! That’s what I durned thought! It says Brenton County Jail Inmate! You’re an escapee! Them orange overalls you is wearing be almost enough. But that lettering done proved it! There liable to be paper out on you – and a re-ward! Woooheee! I done caught me a prisoner!”
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