I was walking past the coop one morning when Bruce Lee came running out and stopped me.
"Vege Cat, wait!" he yelled.
Bruce Lee seldom speaks to me except when he is in trouble or when he wants me to ask a favour from Head Nun for him. So something must be brewing.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Well, for the past few nights, some strange things have been going on here. My hens think that a ghost is haunting the place at night but of course, all that is nonsense. We've lived here for years and we've never encountered any ghosts! Even Turkey Lurkey said he didn't hear or see anything."
"Oh, what did the hens see?" I asked, suddenly thinking of HD and PH and wondering whether they had been teasing the hens for their amusement.
"They say they saw ghostly shadows outside the windows and sometimes they heard eerie wailing. I tried to tell them it's just their imagination but they wouldn't believe me!"
"Well, what do you want me to do? I'm not some kind of ghost buster, you know," I said.
"You could spend a night with us and see for yourself," he said, flapping his wings.
"You must be joking," I said.
"Scared, eh?" he said impatiently. "Look, all I ask is one night, is that too much? Just think how happy my girls (his hens) will be if you caught the ghost or whatever!"
"Alright, alright, I'll see what I can do," I replied. I hastened off before he could say more, sometimes that bird can be very annoying.
I decided to ask HD and PH whether they had been disturbing the hens but they denied having done that.
"For heaven's sake, why should we bother those silly birds? We've got better things to do," said HD indignantly. PH nodded his pumpkin head emphatically in agreement. I told them what Bruce Lee had told me and they chuckled in amusement.
"I tell you what," said HD. "We shall help you find out what's going on there, if anything."
"Oh, what do you plan to do?" I asked, a little nervous. Not all ghosts are friendly like my two pals here, I certainly wouldn't want to lose my head or any part of my body, for that matter.
"We'll spend the night in the grounds of the coop tonight, the three of us can hide in the old tree there and keep watch."
It sounded like a good plan and though I was scared stiff, I went along and the three of us hid ourselves in the branches of the tree and waited.
It was nearly dawn and nothing had happened. I could hardly keep my eyes open and was about to nod off when HD nudged me and whispered, "Wake up, I see something in the shadows!" I sat bolt upright and peered through the leaves of the tree. He was right, something or someone was creeping into the coop compound. The "ghost" circled the building, then started wailing sending goose pimples up and down my spine! Then it banged on the windows and made some unintelligible noises.
"Hey, that's not one of us," said HD. "We ghosts don't do silly things like that and ghosts don't wear a white sheet over their heads! Come on, PH, let's get him!" and both of them swooped down the tree, landed on the startled "ghost" and pinned it down. I scrambled after them in the excitement, forgetting my fear of ghosts.
"Alright, you fake," said HD. "Let's see who you are!" He ripped off the white sheet that the "ghost" was wearing .and we saw to our astonishment that it was .... a cockerel!
"Let me go!" the cockerel yelled, struggling wildly, not really knowing what had hit him.
Just then, Bruce Lee came out of the coop, probably after hearing the commotion outside.
"What the hell....?" he exclaimed. "A cockerel! So you're the bloody culprit!"
(Neither he nor the "ghost" could see HD and PH which was just as well as it saved me from a lot of explanation!)
Then the cockerel started screaming. "You murderer! Wait till I get my hands on you!"
"Murderer?" I said, taken aback. "Are you saying our Bruce Lee is a murderer? Please calm down and let's hear your story!"
The cockerel who said his name was Cluck Luck, calmed down and in a quivering voice blurted: "That no good rooster whom you call Bruce Lee is my ..... father!"
"W...What?" stammered a stunned Bruce Lee. The three of us were just as stunned!
"Yes, and don't you pretend you don't know anything, you scoundrel!" growled Cluck Luck. "You had an affair with my mum, promised her the world, then left her high and dry! You don't know the misery she went through until one day she killed herself by jumping into the river! After years of trying to find you, I finally succeeded! I came here to scare you out of your wits, then kill you!"
"What? You're mad! How dare you come here and make all kinds of accusations!" yelled back Bruce Lee.
Cluck Luck then threw something towards Bruce Lee. "Take a look at that ring! Wasn't it the one you gave her?"
Bruce Lee looked and his face paled. I had never seen him so shaken up, even his bright red comb had turned a shade lighter.
"What ... what was your mother's name?" he stammered.
"Henny Penny!".
Bruce Lee stood there, unable to speak, his legs trembling. Then Cluck Luck suddenly whipped out a knife from under his wing and shouted, "I challenge you to a duel! For my mother, I shall take my revenge and make you die a horrible death!"
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"HD," I cried. "Make them stop! They're going to kill each other!" But he only shrugged.
"It's really none of my business," he said. I got the impression he was enjoying the "show", so was PH.
I had to do something, I turned to run to the temple to get Head Nun but before I could do so, I heard Bruce Lee screaming. I turned back and saw that Cluck Luck was sitting on top of him with his knife poised, ready to slit his throat!
"Stop! Stop! Don't do it!" I shouted desperately.
Then all of a sudden, I saw Cluck Luck look up at the sky as though he had seen or heard something, then after a minute or so, he slowly dropped his knife. Then without a word, he walked out of the compound and disappeared down the road.
"What happened, HD? Why did he suddenly leave?" I asked, as relief swept over me.
"Tell you later," he said, a strange look on his beaten face. "You'd better see that Bruce Lee is okay."
Meanwhile, all the hens had rushed out and surrounded their "boss", cooing words of love and sympathy. Bruce Lee got up, dusted his feathers and said, in a queer sort of voice, "Well, I'm glad that's all over with. That bird is mad! He must have mistaken me for someone else. Alright, let's all go back into the coop - and make sure the door is properly locked!" They all trooped back inside and soon all was quiet.
Later in the temple, I asked HD what had made Cluck Luck suddenly change his mind about killing Bruce Lee.
"Vege Cat, remember we ghosts can see all sorts of things," replied HD. "When you saw Cluck Luck look up to the sky, he had actually seen his mother's image in the sky, her ghost, as you may call it. Yes, I saw her too. She was crying and pleading to him not to kill Bruce Lee. That's why he suddenly dropped his knife and went off."
"Wow, how amazing!" I said. "So she actually saved Bruce Lee's life! She must have loved him very much!"
"I guess she did," said HD.
"I wish we humans could have this kind of love for each other," he continued sighing. "All we care about is money, money, money!" He shook his head sadly and disappeared.
Later that night, after all the hens had gone to sleep, Bruce Lee crept quietly out of the coop and flew to the top of the old tree in the compound. He looked up at the dark sky as though searching for something, then tears started flowing from his eyes as he whispered, "Forgive me, Henny Penny, please forgive me ...."
Bruce Lee never saw his son again though he made several attempts to find him. I guess Cluck Luck will never forgive his father for as long as he lives.
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