Meisha Boone. PHOTOS/STEVE RENDLE
Car-jacking chook takes high road
STEVE RENDLE
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Why did the chicken cross the road?
Forget crossing the road – Shine the chicken took things a lot further on Tuesday.
While it gave owner Meisha Boone an eventful start to the day on Tuesday, it was probably not as eventful as Shine’s.
The day started normally enough, with the school run, and the kids saying they could still smell a fire a neighbour had been burning, long after they’d left home on Skeets Rd.
At this point Mrs Boone had no reason to suspect fowl play, and continued the journey, to buy bread.
“Driving to New World, I could smell it too, so when I got to the carpark I thought I better check there was nothing wrong with the car,” she said.
“I lifted the bonnet and the chicken jumped out. I couldn’t believe it.
“I just stood there looking like an idiot, wondering what I was going to do with this chicken in town.”
Help was close at hand, however.
A staff member from nearby Entice café had seen her plight and rushed out with a tea towel, closely followed by a New World staff member who offered a sweatshirt.
Further onlookers joined in as Shine felt the need to cool off after spending probably almost 10km under the bonnet.
“She had somehow crawled up on top of the engine – to keep warm I suppose.
“It’s lucky the car has a cover over the top of the engine or I think it would have been a roast chicken,” Mrs Boone said.
“There were about 10 people chasing her around the car park – even a lady in high heels – eventually a man in his hunting and shooting gear grabbed her and put her in a cloth shopping bag.”
That wasn’t the end of Shine’s travels.
“I didn’t want to leave her in the car, so I carried her around as I did my shopping, and got a coffee at Entice to thank the people there for their help.”
Back home, Shine appeared none the worse for the experience, Ms Boone said, “but she was pretty thirsty”.
“I thought she might have cooked her feet, but she seems to be all right.”
The smell was apparently just some heated chicken poo.
Nor has the experience put her off motoring, though she was reluctant to pose for a picture back under the bonnet.
“When I arrived home at the end of the day, she appeared from under the other car – I think she’d been sitting on the axle.”
Further investigation reveals Shine has some previous form in the car-jacking department.
“One day, the kids had left the door to the car open and she jumped in and made herself at home for the night.
“When I opened the boot in the morning she jumped out — there were feathers and poo everywhere.”
