Baby chicks

The story you are about to read is about the time I put a baby chick in a microwave. I acknowledge that it wasn't the best thing to do but there is more to the story than you think. Before you jump to any conclusions grant me an opportunity to explain myself.

In Mexico, one of my family's favorite things to do was to go for a drive to visit grandma. At the time I was a careless young lad who thought grandma's house was paradise. From what I remember she had a pool, swings, a basketball court, 2 ponds; 1 with thick colorful fish, and the other with normal fish to go fishing, the world's comfiest hammock, a dog, a tucan, 2 beautiful macaws, 1 parrot and lots of chickens. Her house was decorated with fruitful plants and the greenest trees. The place was well-kept thanks to grandma and her enthusiastic handyman who both shared loving and productive personalities. It was like a private little resort! Don't even get me started on grandma's cooking; that is a whole nother story in itself.

On a calm and cozy morning, grandma showed me how to feed the chickens. Rather than paying attention to the hungry chickens, my focus was set on the cute little balls of fluff that were frolicking around on the side. This was the last day we were staying with grandma so I asked her if I could take a baby chick home as a pet promising that I would take care of it and not let anything happen to it. She explained to me the importance of families and the role this baby chick had in the future. Next, she described how young I was and the need I had to learn just a little bit more before I took it upon myself to take care of another living creature. At the end of our conversation, I understood why it wasn't the best idea for me to take the baby chick that day. But now that I'm older and slightly wiser, I think my parents told her not to give me one behind my back. But that's just speculation.

Going forward a few years I now was with my mom walking down the street market. Tarps were tied together by locals to create shade and designate boundaries so that they could sell what they had to offer. It was very crowded and money was worked for everywhere the eye could see. Heck, even the public bathrooms were "locked" unless you paid a certain amount of pesos; I remember the toilet paper cost 7 of them. Imagine a scrawny stranger wearing oversized farm clothing asking for 7 pesos in exchange for a few squares of toilet paper. Last I checked 20.13 pesos was equivalent to 1 dollar. So every 6-8 squares were about 1/3 of a dollar. Thinking about it we were getting robbed! Nonetheless, we couldn't complain, they had the supply and we were in demand. After some time outside we walked into a building to buy some groceries we needed. In there was a lady behind a cage filled with colorful baby chicks. Yes, colorful they had been spray-painted beforehand. I asked my mom if we could buy some with excitement. I was pulling her shirt, jumping up and down, pointing at the chicklets hoping we would. And we did! I got a blue one, a red one, a yellow one, and a green one. You should've seen the smile on my face.

At home, I had them for two days now. All was well until the green one started to shiver. With my little mind at the time I thought it was cold, so I wrapped him around a little blanket to help. A few seconds later I noticed it was still shivering, therefore, I placed him underneath a lamp along with the blanket. "There you go, little buddy, you can stop being cold now" But my little green friend was still shivering! It's times like these where I wish I could have known the motto my wrestling team had for all the years I wrestled, which was "Don't be an idiot." My thought process was: "Okay. The blanket and the lamp weren't hot enough. I need more heat. What do I have that is a tad bit warmer? (moments of pondering later...) Oh, the microwave, why did I not think of that?" So there I go "la la la la la" I place him in there and set the timer for 60 seconds.

Big mistake! The poor guy started to scream after the 3rd second. He was jumping all over flapping his wings like crazy! The chicklet jumped so high he hit his head on the top part of the microwave. It hadn't been 5 seconds and I immediately took him out. I was so scared! I put him back with the others and just let him be. Then one hour later I found him dead. That day I learned the importance of knowing how to help. If you have the right intentions but don't know how to properly execute the needed help then it is best for you to leave it be and find someone who does.