We were sitting in the downtown Starbucks. I heard a very loud screech. I listened again. A series of ‘cocka-doodle-doos’ sounded in quick succession. ‘Is that someone’s phone?’ I asked.
‘There’s a chicken in here,’ my boss replied calmly, like this was the most normal day at Starbucks ever.
There are a lot of chickens on this island. Not a Kauai level of chickens, but still a lot. There is a mama with 10 chicks living under our jackfruit tree. I guess it was only a matter of time before they strutted into stores.
‘It’s in a cat bag,’ my coworker squealed.
The Starbucks staff were either unaware or unwilling to call foul play. Hawaii is pretty liberal with their definition of service animal. But a chicken?
I had to get a closer look. I approached the owner in a wide circle. He seemed…perfectly normal. ‘Excuse me, sir. May I take a picture of your chicken?’ I asked.
He beamed like a proud papa, ‘Yes,’ he said in accented English, unzipping the front of the ‘mobile coop’ so I could get a better look.
To my surprise there were three chickens. I was waiting for them to fly out, but they were a well behaved brood. Chicken Papa was quite a talker, but in the excitement, all I really gleaned was, ‘There are holes so they can breathe.’
I thanked him for the pictures and returned to my friends, eager to share the details. I have seen some interesting things on this island, but this was a new level of awesome weird.
I have surveyed 5 locals, none of whom were surprised that there were chickens in the Starbucks. Not Jersey quipped there are probably chickens running the Starbucks on Kauai. However, everyone expected the chickens had strutted in on their own accord. No one thought they would be domesticated chicks living in a cat bag.
I can tell you the Asian Uncle sitting next to the flock was not impressed, but he was not going to complain or move. He was staring straight ahead lips pressed. His look said, ‘Are you kidding me, you idiot?’
My dorky legal brain (what’s left of it) went wild. This was almost certainly a health code violation. (I restrained myself from researching the local health code.) Three chicks would be a hard sell on the support animal argument. But honestly, on this little Big Island you see stuff like this all the time. It makes living here even more an adventure.
Comments