After being quite sick for the past week, I found that I could not put off making a trip to the store for household necessities any longer.

It took every ounce of strength I had just to get myself cleaned up and presentable enough to be seen in public when all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed where I had spent the past four days.Shopping took longer than usual and walking up and down the aisles proved to be quite exhausting.I really wanted to just go home after finishing up at Wal-mart, however I had a crock pot and a large roaster in my car that needed to be returned to their rightful owners and I figured that I would kill several birds with one stone since I was already out and about.I made my first delivery to my dear friend, Karen, whom I hadn't seen since mid-July.Despite not wanting to spread my germs to her, I hung out and chatted with her for a little while.Our conversation eventually turned to olive oil soap which I had introduced her to several years back.She informed me that there was a woman who made it locally and that she really loved the soap, which left her skin soft and seemed to help with her eczema.I was intrigued as it had been a long time since I enjoyed the soap that I previously ordered from a Greek soapmaker in Florida.Karen gave me directions, and since it was on my way home, I decided to make an extra stop.When I arrived at my destination, I noticed that there were a bunch of chickens and roosters wandering about in the mud.I got out of my car and walked around a bit, carefully dodging the mud puddles and chicken poo.Since I did not see any cars, I assumed no one was available to sell me some soap and began to make my way back to my vehicle.I must have riled up the fowl as they seem to have come out of the woodwork and congregated around my car.The scene left me feeling a little uncomfortable, but I shrugged it off and got into my car.I turned on the ignition and began checking my side and rearview mirrors to be sure that I would not injure any of the poultry when backing up and turning around to go back down the dirt road.Surprisingly, the sound of my car's engine didn't faze them at all.In fact more of them gathered around my car.Being an animal lover (and not wanting someone to shoot me for running over their chickens), I first beeped the horn to scare them away.When that didn't work, I got out of the car, hoping they would wander away from the human.I walked around the side of the car to find that one hen decided to lay herself down behind my right front tire.I started telling her to "shoo" and began waving my arms in the same manner.When that didn't work, I walked closer, shuffling my feet, waving my arms and loudly demanding her to "SHOO!"I quickly turned around to run back to the other side of the car when I came beak to face with one large, angry and protective rooster.I stopped dead in my tracks as I really didn't like the way he was looking at me.I took a slow step to the side; he took a step forward.I took another step; he countered.I contemplated raising my arms and giving him a loud "RAH!" or something in order to frighten him away, but before I could as much as twitch my hand the rooster charged!I started to scream and faked left, but he kept coming.I nearly slipped in the mud as I tried to run to my car door, screaming the entire time.With shaking hands I somehow managed to get the door open and hurled myself inside while simultaneously slamming the door behind me to prevent that crazed rooster from getting inside with me.Then came the pain.Not from the vicious attack rooster, but from crushing my foot in the door while trying to avoid the clutches of said vicious attack rooster.I pulled my foot in, closed the door and placed my forehead on the steering wheel as I tried to recover from my ordeal and from my self-inflicted injury.When I eventually raised my head, there in front of my car stood that horrible, evil rooster, and several yards behind him stood the olive-oil-soap woman with a most perplexed look on her face.I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, but knew I had some explaining to do.We went inside and I was able to get several bars of her homemade soap.After giving her a very toned-down and less embarrassing version of what transpired between that damn rooster and myself, the woman was kind enough to walk me back to my car.She told me to just back up slowly and explained where the term "playing chicken" came from.I turned on the car and slowly made my three-point turn so as not to injure anyone.I looked over my shoulder to find that blasted rooster just standing there; watching and mocking me the entire time.Well played, rooster. Well played.