A Rooster Named “Steve”

Shortly after moving to Lawrence County from Central Florida I was anxious to have some chickens.  After building a coop and fencing a small area I purchased ten Rhode Island Red pullets from a lady near Pulaski and felt that finally I was in the chicken business.  Now for the first time since childhood we could have our own fresh eggs.  I had spent my first years on a farm in Kentucky, and my wife had grown up on a farm near Loretto, Tennessee.  Now in retirement we felt that we were getting back to our roots.

Within a few days I wanted to find a rooster to keep the hens entertained and to have fertilized eggs in case I wanted to incubate some.  I saw listed on Pulaski’s WKSR radio station’s web page swap shop a listing for two Rhode Island Red roosters.  The next day I needed to go to a home supply store in Pulaski and while on the way I used my cell phone to call the number listed.  I got an answering machine and left a message that I was interested in one of the roosters. 

    

After a few minutes I received a call back.  The man asked, “Who is this?”  I told him my name.  He said, “This has to be a joke!”  I told him it was no joke and that I needed a rooster and was interested in one of his that he had listed.  He asked me where I saw the ad, and I told him I thought it was on Craigslist.  His response was that he did not have a listing on Craigslist and he was sure this was a joke.  I stated that perhaps I had seen the ad on the WKSR site and asked him why he thought it was a joke.  He said he noticed my telephone number was in area code 863 and that they had moved from Polk County last year and his friends there were always playing jokes on him.

I told him that we had recently moved from Winter Haven to the Lawrenceburg area and that we kept the same cell phone number.  He said that he had worked for the Polk County Sheriff’s Department and had lived in Lakeland for many years off Lakeland Highlands Road.  I asked him if I could come and see the roosters.  He was reluctant to give directions and again stated, “This has to be a joke.”  Finally, he gave me directions to get to his house.  He was not specific on the last two turns and said to call him when I got closer.  I asked him if a cell phone would work out there and he said that he thought so.  He and his wife live in an area called Goodsprings between Pulaski and Minor Hill on Route 11, about twenty miles from where we live.  I drove out that direction and when I got to the last intersection that I remembered I tried to call but to no avail.  There was no cell phone signal.  I ended up driving by instinct, stopping at one house and asking if Steve lived there.  I was off by one house, so I drove about a quarter of a mile on down the narrow road and found the correct house.

Steve and his wife were laughing and thinking that somehow this was still a joke and really did not expect me to show up.  I stated that I never thought that simply buying a rooster would be such a hassle. 

He said that he had retired in 2007 from the Polk County Sheriff’s office.  They had bought this eighteen-acre-farm and moved in August the year before.  He asked me if I knew anyone who worked in the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, and I told him that I had a niece and her husband who had worked there several years ago and mentioned their names.  He said that he remembered them and that the next time I talked with them to tell them that we had met.

We reminisced some about Polk County with his asking where we had lived, etc.  We then went down to the barn to look at the roosters which he had penned up in a stall.  I chose the one I wanted; he caught it and put in the box I had brought for that purpose.  I started to pay him and he said, “No, for what I have put you through I want to give you the rooster, especially since I know your niece, Julie.  Tell Julie that because of her you got a free rooster.”

Just before leaving he asked me what kind of work I had done in Florida.  I told him that I was a retired minister.  He groaned and said, “O that makes it even worse.  I hope I did not use any French words!  I’ll have to tell my wife that you are a minister.  She will really get a kick out of that!”

And that’s the story of my rooster.  I named him “Steve.”