SCARED SILLY: "The sky is falling!" cries Chicken Little. "Huge chunks of sky are falling, killer clouds as big as bungalows! It's greenhouse gases! It's unregistered rifles! It's HBO! It's the devil U.S. army, come to save us from ourselves!"

"Oh my!" weeps Henny Penny, who, thanks to CNN's frightening Showdown Lowdown, rarely leaves the coop. "What can we do?"

"Sign my Kyoto Accord!" urges Chicken Little, producing both paper and pencil. "Do you want the sky to fall? Sign now, before it is too late."

"I've never seen the sky fall," protests Turkey Lurkey.

"Are you blind?" asks Chicken Little. "Those chickens that get on the truck on market days and never come back? Squashed! Crushed by the sky!"

"If that's so," muses Foxy Loxie, "how come the truck comes back in perfect shape?"

"Shut up," barks Chicken Little. "This is no time to talk. Sign now. Talk later. Don't let the sky fall any more."

"We just sign an accord and it stops?" shivers Turkey Lurkey, pen in wing. "Where's the small print? Is this like a hydro bill?"

"There will be a price to pay," admits the excitable chicken. "You may have to buy protective hats. Some of you might have to stop exhaling so much."

"How much?" asks Brown Cow, knowing from testing herself against Fear Factor's hard bodies she can only hold her breath 41 seconds.

"We will figure it out after everybody signs," says Chicken Little. "Have you all put your names in my gun registry?"

"I don't understand how that works," argues the Old Goat. "I put my name in that gun log, but no criminal will register. So you've got my name -- but not a single signature from anybody who might do me harm!"

"You must be registered," says Chicken Little. "That is the law. It cost a fortune for pens and paper. If you don't register, what a waste that will be."

"But criminals won't register!" the Old Goat nags.

"If crooks steal the registry, they see who has a gun!" Chicken Little explains. "They will know who not to rob or murder. Criminals steer clear of the armed! Don't you want to be on that list?"

"I saw a guy whacked on The Sopranos," nods Piggly Wiggly. "It was horrible! They cut him into chops, bacon and cold cuts in a bath tub."

"You saw The Sopranos finale?" demands Chicken Little. "That is against the law. You are not allowed to see anybody get whacked until I show it to you on my government-approved Chicken Little Channel."

"It was on HBO Sunday night!" says Brown Cow. "Why should I have to wait till tonight to see it on your little Chicken Channel?"

"Because that is when I show it," mocks Chicken Little. "You are not allowed to see it any other time. That is the law. I spent a small fortune at the CRTC making sure it is the law and you will obey, rib roast."

"What happens if we don't?" asks Piggly Wiggly, trembling.

"Your eyes will fall out and dogs will chew your ears," Chicken Little threatens. "The RCMP will take your TV. You may be compelled to sit in Mike Bullard's studio audience. Or warm a stool on Dini Classics."

"What about wolves?" begs Henny Penny. "I hear them howl late at night. Evildoers are out there. Some night, when we least expect it, they will come kill us in our beds."

"The Americans have anti-wolf devices," chirps Brewster the Rooster. "Perhaps they will share them with us. Protect our little farm."

"We do not want that," says Chicken Little. "I have prepared an angry letter to the newspapers from each of you begging the Americans to stay away. We do not need their help. Sign and I'll mail it for you."

"But we have no protection of our own!" the Rooster worries. "What if the wolves come? What will we do then?"

"Trust me," says Chicken Little. "We are better off without the Americans and their damned anti-wolf devices. Did you not hear? They won't sign the Kyoto Accord! They want the sky to fall! We are not like them. We believe in legacy projects: waiting lists for the ill and imaginary daycare."

"But the wolves!" cries Henny Penny.

"Have I not set up every system that protects this farm?" thunders the ChickMeister. "Designed every law, registry, board, tax and rule? Determined what animals are allowed to see, buy, own? Concocted the very value of our dollar? Didn't you elect me to do just that?"

And by golly -- sad to say -- they had.

Moral: Buy more wolf repellent. With an SPF of at least 40.

_______________________
Scott MacLean
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
ICQ: 9184011
http://www.nerosoft.com

Reply via email to