Cordele —

You will not believe it! Shoot, I wouldn’t believe it myself had I not observed the sight with my own eyes. 

Yesterday was hot. I mean really hot with the humidity high and the temperature within a couple of degrees of 100 even after 8 p.m. when I began my daily run through the woods and fields of the backside.

The gnats, yellow flies, horse flies, and other flying nuisances were out in full force so I applied a generous application of liquid insect repellant with a particularly abundant portion slathered on my forehead. 

As always in hot weather I kept a keen lookout for rattlesnakes choosing to occupy the spot where I might step. I’m not sure if it was too hot for the rattlers, but thankfully none were observed. 

I saw a couple of deer and what I took to be a covey of quail.  I noted despite their relatively large size they were flying like beginners when a mother turkey flew up behind me and I realized the birds were baby turkeys. 

I readily admit that after about 15 minutes the insect repellant had run down my head into my eyes.  This made my eyes burn and my vision could have been moderately impaired which led Merle to suggest I didn’t actually see what I reported seeing.  But I’m here to tell you I did see what I saw.

Before I tell you what I saw, a revelation of a bit of the lore of the backside is in order.

Long ago when I was but a toddler my cousin Alva Edison Wade returned to the Mt. Carmel Community from his studies at Texas A. & M. University where he had learned a great deal about animal husbandry. 

A.E., as he was called, developed a friendship with an older farmer named Choctaw Pidge who was the county’s resident expert on raising white rabbits.  Choctaw had pens containing about 75 of the creatures.

To understand the temper of the times, none of the people near Mt. Carmel was starving but there existed a need for more nutritious good tasting food than was available.  It was before Col. Sanders became the fried chicken king and the southern delicacy although not rare on local dining tables always seemed to be in short supply. 

Most farm children preferred drum sticks and if there were four children in the family and the mother had only one chicken to fry you can readily see there was a preferred parts distribution dilemma.

A. E.’s Aggie learning fueled the fires of innovative entrepreneurship as he sought a solution to the fried chicken drumstick enigma.  With Choctaw’s assistance, plus his white rabbits, A.E. devised a unique undertaking. 

A. E. and Choctaw crossbred a Rhode Island Red rooster with a Flemish Giant white female rabbit.  Keep in mind this took place before I was old enough to remember but adults in the community reported the results were spectacular. 

The off spring had four legs thus doubling the number of drumsticks per animal.  Imagine the potential impact upon the fired chicken industry not to mention the stunning color of the new creations. 

Few residents actually saw the animals in person but legend has it they were radiant beyond imagination.  The creatures were striped like zebras except the markings were red and white. A.E. had hoped the red stripes would match the maroon color of his beloved Texas A. & M. Aggies but the new breed emerged with a brighter shade of red. 

Today’s fried chicken world could have indeed been quite different had not someone made a fateful mistake.

The biddy/bunnies were flourishing and running about the inside of their commodious chain link pen with local residents drooling over how the succulent young drumsticks might taste. 

It was rumored but not confirmed that an animal husbandry graduate from the University of Georgia had successfully bred a three legged chicken which was so fast it could outrun a 1947 Ford V8 police car.  With speeds like that you could imagine the acceleration power of a four legged chicken with one half the genetic makeup of a rabbit.  

It was never determined who, how, or why but late one afternoon someone left the gate open.  As A. E. and Choctaw approached the pen they saw the last of their sumptuous red and white animals disappearing like rockets into the woods.  To my knowledge no one ever saw one of them again……until yesterday.

Yesterday just before dark the fastest running creature I ever observed emerged from a heavily wooded area and sped past me as though I stood still.  The markings on the animal matched the description of A.E. and Choctaw’s creation. 

The red stripes appeared to be faded to gray although it moved so rapidly I can’t say for sure.  Since the four legged chicken/ rabbit creatures would be over 60 years old it appears reasonable they would have gray hair by now.

I wondered how to share this discovery with others and then I knew.  We will schedule a road race on the backside and yes dear hearts it will be a “points event.” 

There will be no prescribed course or distance as participants will run about at will in any direction on the backside searching for the illusive chickrabs.  

Runners will be equipped with a GPS and each time a “points person” covers 3.1 miles he/she will receive points with the quantity limited only by the miles one can traverse in the 10 hour limit placed on the race.  

Points of a different sort may also be received by running through the abundant briar patches. Runners who report sighting a chickrab will receive double points provided the runner has visual evidence documented by a picture taken with a cell phone. 

Any runner who catches a chickrab and carries it across the starting line will receive their distance point totals earned times 100.

If the race goes well, as I’m sure it will, our next racing venture will be a night run for “points” on the backside.  At that time we will run and search for the unicorn which I saw late one night in the moonlight  last winter.