Clues

 

There was an old, abandoned truck in an otherwise vacant field. Nobody was around, as far as I could see, but the truck engine was running.  I couldn’t tell how long it had been idling but I assumed it would just keep going until it ran itself out of gas.

As I stood there next to it, I could feel the heat coming from the sunbaked metal.  What was left of the paint wasn’t much and the upholstery looked to be just as worn.  I didn’t want to reach out and try the door handle, because as soon as I did, I’m sure someone would suddenly appear and accuse me of trying to steal it, even though I still saw nobody around.

I stepped closer and looked in at the front seat.  I saw, what appeared to be a laundry basket full of chicken feathers.  Next to that was an unfolded map and on the map was a pint of Old Granddad whiskey, about half gone.

The inquisitive part of me wanted to assemble the pieces of this puzzle.  Who walked away and left their truck running?  What was with all the chicken feathers and, if you’re going to drink, why Old Granddad? Yuck!

Then again, maybe this was a stolen truck.  Maybe this was a drunken chicken thief who failed at fighting off the angry chickens.  He took off on foot with the naked chickens in hot pursuit.

Yes, I know.  I’m good at this stuff.