Buzzbomb

I mentioned Buzzbomb in my childhood memories article.  Here's his story.

When I was a little girl, before my parents divorced, I lived in an area that could have been a compound since most of the families that lived there were my father's brothers and sister.  There were other families but the cousins mostly played with one another.

Each morning I would get out of bed, eat breakfast, play with Rex (my dog) a bit and then get dressed to go play with my Uncle John and Aunt Mary's kids.  There were eight of them but my favorites were Richard and Kathy.  The others were a bit too old for me and the youngest was a baby.

Buzzbomb was a rooster that the cousins had.  I'm not sure why they had a rooster because they had no chickens and didn't need an alarm clock, but a rooster they had.  One winter Buzzbomb was left out in a freeze and his feet fell off.  After that he got mean.  Well, hell, can you blame him!?  The cousins kept him penned up and especially when they knew I would be coming over because I was terrified of him.  I was convinced he hated me because I was the only one he chased and tried to peck.

One morning, after going through my usual routine, I headed for the cousins'.  There was a gate and I opened it to let myself into the yard.  Buzzbomb's pen was in the corner of their yard to the left as you went through the gate coming in.  I furtively glanced in that direction just to be sure.  The pen was closed and everything seemed okay.  I headed on down the pathway to the back door of their house.  It was a pretty long walk and as I was generally never in a particular hurry, I looked at the flower beds, check out some of the stones and stared up at the clear, blue sky.  I noticed that Richard was in the second story window pointing.  I thought he was waving, so of course I waved back. 

Then Kathy came to the window and she and Richard tried to open it.  They got it up a few inches and I could hear them yelling my name and frantically waving their arms.  I still wasn't getting the message so I continued my meandering toward the house.  Suddenly I heard a strange sound; thump thump thump thump THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP.  And then Richard's voice yelling, "RUN, SANDRA, RUN FAST!  RUN RUN RUN!!"

I turned around and saw that monster rooster heading right for me THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP  I turned and ran as fast as I could.  Richard came tearing out the back door of his house.  But I tripped and fell flat on my face and stomach.  Buzzbomb wasted no time.  I felt his stumpy legs hit my back and his beak tearing at me. 

Richard was coming down the steps of his porch but stopped dead still, terror on his face.  "Oh, he's going to let Buzzbomb eat me.  Why isn't he helping me?!"  Then I heard the biggest GRRRRRRR WOOF I'd ever heard.  Suddenly Buzzbomb's weight was lifted from me and his pecks stopped.  Feathers were flying all around me - squawks and growls and barks and then it was over.

Richard still didn't move.  The whole neighborhood was afraid of Buzzbomb but was terrified of Rex.  When I felt it was safe, I sat up and Rex came over and started licking my face and rooster wounds. 

Then I threw up.

Richard said that Rex scaled the fence and came charging after Buzzbomb.  It apparently didn't take any time at all for the enraged dog to make quick disposition of the rooster. 

I still have a scar from that bandit rooster attack.