Michael, God Sent You And Took You Back

by Jean McAllister
(Swannanoa, NC, USA)

I received the gift of Michael in November of 2019. A friend called me and said that somebody had given her a chicken and that she didn’t have the heart to kill it for Thanksgiving. I told her what the heck bring it here.

She brought over an aloe crate and I noticed a few black feathers poking out of the top of it. After a few moment of talk, she left and I opened the crate. Out stepped a prince. All black with slate legs and a bright red comb. A cockerel!

He walked about like an aristocrat. He claimed his kingdom. I mocked a crow and he answered.

I named him Michael after the archangel. I had been so depressed and lost with little direction but when I saw the mastery this young bird had over coming into a new environment, I started to realize how much I had cowered and put up with invalidation. He had walked right in to a problem and solved it just like that!

Everybody loves chickens but nobody likes chicken shit. My landlord is a negligent uppity snit and the first thing she said was get rid of him. I told her I won’t and evict me if you don’t like it. Well, she then attempted to make my life hell. But I intended to find a better place for him.

I taught Michael how to use an iPod and play the magic piano. While I was at work he went very far with it and to my surprise could change the channels on YouTube at his discretion when he didn’t like what I was listening to while I was outside.

He learned to speak a few words and he learned how to go outside or on a puppy pad to poo.

One day I was digging my work van out of the mud when suddenly my heart started to flutter and I could not catch my breath. I was desperately trying to breathe through my diaphragm as I crawled on the mud to get inside and call an ambulance.

I made it to the door on the deck and propped myself up by the door frame to avoid laying down because I could not move my chest. Michael came up on the deck and looked at me closely. I said to him, “I want my heart to beat normally!” And in a split second, like a hammer hitting my heart, it thumped strongly one time and was absolutely normal.

I looked at Michael and the love that came out of that bird was as big as the ocean. His concern was evident.

I will forever be grateful to him and God that worked through him.

Michael was a happy bird. He chucked and mimicked me and the cat and dog and crows and the rooster on my chest of drawers in my bedroom. I took many pictures and videos of him and he enjoyed watching them. He had the best of feed and the hens across the street would jump the fence to be with him. At the end of the date he would escort the hens back across the street.

Then this morning, he was gone. I called for him outside. I looked everywhere. I called animal control and then I lost my mind. I cried like the depths of my souls had been taken.

Then I found him. He was purple and laying at the foot of my bed. It was very hard for me and it still is. I took his body to a place where they would determine his cause of death. He was very well taken care of and I hope that he realizes how much he has done for me.

I love you sweet Michael and I always will. I hope to see you again please dear lord save Michael for me!