Milog Macourek _ JACOB'S CHICKEN Plisken is 8 eisken, you all now how a chicken looks, + you do, 60 go ahead and deav a d 0 tell tho cites nd all the hide andk orange ana draw chickens, coloring them black or brown, with black or brown crayons, but woulda’t you know ity lovk at Jaowb, he ‘draws 4 chicken with every crayon in the box, then horrovwe some from Laura, and Jacob's chicken ends up with an orange head, blue wings and red thighs and the teacher sore that’s some bizarre chicken, what do you say children, are) the kids roll with laughter while the teacher goes on, sayin that's all beeause Jacob wasn’t paying attention, and, te tell the truth, Jacob’s chieken really looks more like a tnrkey but then not quite, for it also resembles a sparrow and. ale & peacock, it’s as big as a quail and as lean a6 a ewallowy g peculiar pallet, to say the Jeast, Jacob earns an F for it and the chicken, instead of being hung on the wall, mietates to a pile of mists on top af the teacher's caine, the py fhilckens feelings are hurt, nothing mikes i happy about Feing on top of a teacher's cabinet, so, deciding not to be cken, i fies off throuh the open window. poor 102 Macouvek JAGOB'S CHICKEN But a chicken is a chicken, a chicken won't fly too far, hence it ends up next door in a garden full of white cherries and powder-blue currants, a splendid garden that proudly shows its caltivator’s love, you see, the gardener, Professor Kapon, a recognized authority, is an ornithologist who has written seven books on birds and right now is finishing his eighth, and as be puts the last touches to it, he snddealy feets weary, so he goes out to do some light gardening and toss a fow horseshoes, which is easy and lets him muse over birds, there are tons of them, so many birds, Professor Kapon says to himself, but there isn'ta single bird that I discovered, he feels down, fips a horseshoe and dreams a love-filled dream about an as-yet-unknown bird when his eye falls on the chicken picking the baby-blue eurrants, the rare blue ew rants that dammit he dida’t grow for chicken feed, now that ‘would make anyone’s blood boil, the professor is incensed, he is furious, he seems unable to zap the chicken, so in the cend he just eatches it, Hings it over the fence, the chicken lies off, and voiti, Professor Kapon follows, he flies over the {ence in pursuit of the chicken, grabs it and earries it home, quite an unusual chicken, that one, bet nobody has seen one quite like it, an orange head, blue wings and red thighs, the professor jots it all down, looks like a turkey, but then not guite, reminds one of a sparrow but also of 2 peacock, its as hig as a quail and as lean as a swallow, and alier he has written it all down for his eighth book, the professor, all bestows upon the chiekea his own name and carries quive it to the yoo. A chicken is a chicken, who would fuss over a ehicker, you think, but ¢his one must be well worth the bother for ‘the whole zoo is in. an uproar, such rarity turas up perhaps once in twenty years, if that often, the zoo director is subbing his hands, the employees are building a cage, the painter thas his hands full and the director says the cage must sparkle 208SUDDEN FICTION (CONTINUED) and make the bed soft, he adds, and already there appears a rameplate, Kapou’s chicken, Gallina kaponi, it sounds lovely, doesn’t it, what do you say, it sounds, actually, how haut it, the chicken is having the time of is life, ifs moved to tears by all this eare, it really can’t complain, it has become the z00’s main attraction, the center of attention, the 200 has never had so many visitors, says the cashier, and the crowds are growing larger by the minutc, wail, look, there is our teacher with she whole class standing in front of the cage, explaining, a while ago you saw the Preewalski horse snd here yo have another unique specimen, the so~ called Kapon’s chicken or Galfirna kaponi that looks some~ what like a turkey but not quite, resembles a sparrow and also a peacock, it’s as big as a quail and as lean as a swallow, why, look at thet gorgeous orange head, the blue wings, the scarlet thighs, the children ave agog, they sigh, what « beau tiful chicken, ain’t that right, teacher, but Laura, as if struck by lightning, pnils on teacher's sleeve and says, that’s Jacob’s chieken, J bet you it is, the teacher becomes irked, this silly chile’s ridiculous notions, what Jacoh’s chicken is she prat- ing about and, come to think of it, where is Jacob anyhow, again ic is not paying attention, now, wouldu’t you know, there, just look at him, there he is, in front of an anleater’s cage, watching an anteater when he is supposed to be look ing at Kapon’s chicken, Jacob, the teacher yells at the top of her lungs in @ high-pitched voiee, next time you'll stay home, Jacob, Pve had enough aggravation, which sbouldn’t surprise anyone, for something like that would make any- body's blood boil. ‘Translated from the Czech by Dagmar Herrmann 104