We talked strategy.  Bob had a plan. “Phillip, you stay here on this side, and Lawrence and I will go to around the chicken house and come in on the other side, and we’ve got Rooster trapped between us.”

That sounded like a good arrangement.  Phillip was bigger than Bob and I, much more agile, faster, and athletic than both of us put together.  Surely this plan was foolproof. Our two teams closed in. Rooster stopped scratching and raised his head.  He sensed danger. The two teams approached slowly, quietly, keeping Rooster between us.

Each team was about five feet from its quarry.  But wily Rooster would have none of this.  He jumped up, squawked loudly, wings flapping and went right between Bob and me.

Phillip yelled, “You let him get away”. Of course, we knew that. Oh, the shame of it all!  We had a plan, a good plan, but Rooster overwhelmed Bob and me and made an escape. Now the chase was on. All three of us boys, and we’re now joined by our sisters, Catharine, Rita and Diane.

Diane, we figured, was of no help at all.  She was only three. She would only be in the way. But that did leave a posse of five. Certainly, five Scheckels could outthink, outsmart, outrun, and finally capture Rooster. We all wanted Rooster to be the centerpiece for our Sunday dinner just waiting to be carved up!

We thought we had Rooster cornered several times. Each time Rooster rose up, flapped his wings wildly, squawked loudly, and escaped.  We lost sight of Rooster several times.  But with five pairs of eyes he was quickly spotted.

Now it was plan two or perhaps it was plan three or four.  Phillip and Catharine would chase Rooster around the hen house.  Bob, Rita, and I would stay put, hide around the corner. When we heard Rooster approaching, we’d jump out in Rooster’s path and one of us would grab him.

Aw, it worked to perfection. Bob caught the wing of Rooster who put up a desperate struggle.  But the rest of us closed in and finally got hold of his two feet, at which time the extraordinary bird was doomed. Even on death’s doorstep Rooster put up a fight. He bent his head around and up so as to bite his captors.  It was to no avail, Rooster had met his end.  I do believe he raised his head just in time to see the axe blade coming down. That Sunday meal was one of the best we’d ever had.