Yay, the Hungry Ghost Festival is over and we can now look forward to the Mid-Autumn Festival! This year we heard that Chief Nun of the hill temple would be going to China over the festive period and so no invitation from her to spend the festival up there. Many kind devotees had already presented Head Nun with boxes of mooncakes and moon biscuits and she usually divides them into those for prayer and those for the nuns to enjoy.
Since we can't wait until the festival comes along in about two weeks' time, Head Nun very kindly arranged for a small "mooncake party" for the nuns in the kitchen the other evening. The nuns were delighted as there was a good variety of mooncakes to choose from. Mooncakes are not really my favourite but they insisted I had a small piece just to join in the fun.
So there we were munching away when there came a loud knocking on the front door. APK and I went to investigate and were surprised to see two policemen in uniform outside.
"What's the problem, officers?" asked APK.
"We came to warn you that a mentally deranged man has escaped from the mental home in the village. He is armed with a knife and could be headed this way. So keep your doors and windows tightly shut. If you see anything suspicious, call us," said the officer.
"Thank you, officer, for warning us," said APK, now a little nervous.
The officers sped off in their police car and we ran back to the kitchen to tell Head Nun and the others. Head Nun immediately told us to lock all doors and windows securely and after we had done that, we returned to the kitchen where we all sat down and chanted a few mantras.
The next morning, after meditation, Head Nun requested APK and I to visit the chicken coop to see whether Bruce Lee and his hens were alright. It was nearly 7 am and quite bright already. APK banged on the door and called out several times for Bruce Lee. After some time, the door slowly creaked open and a bleary eyed Bruce Lee emerged.
"Why are you guys here so early?" he croaked. "I haven't even done my morning call!"
"We wanted to make sure you and your ...er ... girls are ok," said APK. She then told him about the mad man who had escaped from the mental home.
Bruce Lee looked at us, then cocked his head to the right and winked at us. Then he cocked his head to the left and winked at us. Then to our surprise he did a little jig and walked backwards into the coop and shut the door in front of him.
"Hey, what's with him?" asked APK. "Why is he behaving so strangely?"
"Perhaps he's caught a bug," I said. "I've never seen him act like this before."
"Well, I suppose they're all safe, otherwise he would have said something, you know him and his big mouth," said APK. "I'll return to the temple and tell Head Nun."
She ran off but I remained behind. My sixth sense told me that something was not quite right. Was Bruce Lee trying to tell us something? I decided to sneak back to the coop and take a look through one of the windows. Trying to be as quiet as possible, I stretched myself up and peeped into a window at the back.
What I saw gave me a shock. Firstly I saw that all the hens were cowering on the ground and standing in the middle of the coop was a huge man. He was gloating over them, a knife in his hand. Then, horror of horrors, I saw Bruce Lee hanging upside down from the ceiling! It looked like the man had strung him up there and I suddenly realized that he must be no other than the mad guy himself! He had probably been hiding in the coop the whole night and when we knocked on the door earlier, I guess he had threatened Bruce Lee that he would kill the hens if he gave him away.
I immediately ran back to the temple, told Head Nun who called the police and in a short while, they came, surrounded the coop, took the man by surprise and escorted him away. A police officer then cut the rope and brought Bruce Lee down.
"What took you all so long?" shrieked a dishevelled Bruce Lee. "I could have died hanging up there!"
"Calm down, Bruce Lee," said Head Nun. "You should thank Vege Cat for saving you all. If he hadn't suspected something was wrong when you acted weirdly, that mad man would have made minced chicken out of all of you!"
"Okay, okay, so he saved us but only because I acted smart, " he replied haughtily. "But my girls will never get over the shock. I shall have a headache nursing them back to health! What's more, I lost some of my beautiful feathers when that maniac strung me up! I shall sue him for causing me bodily harm!" He grumbled on and on until Head Nun got quite annoyed.
"Look, I shall put a barbed wire fence round the coop ...."
"Not only that but a CCTV and fire alarm," demanded Bruce Lee loudly. "We don't want to be roasted alive nor do we want to be victims of another lunatic!" The hens clucked their support from behind, making quite a din.
"What is this, some kind of rebellion?" said Head Nun in exasperation. "Alright, I have heard your demands and will look into them. I am as concerned about your safety as you are. Now please get back inside!"
Bruce Lee opened his mouth to say something but shut it again. The "boss" (Head Nun) could refuse to give them food for the whole day for being naughty, so it was better to keep quiet. He strutted back into the coop with his hens but not without an arrogant flap of his wings.
Head Nun kept her word and put up the barbed wire fence, for a start. The temple didn't have the budget for a CCTV and a fire alarm, so that had to wait.
In the next two or three days, we didn't hear Bruce Lee's wake up call. APK said he must be busy attending to his girls but after that, he was out there crowing his head off again and we knew peace once more reigned in the coop.
No comments:
Post a Comment