The Rooster Next Door

As a child growing up in Los Angeles, I never knew what to expect. In a city that is so diversely and densely populated where people from 140 countries speak 86 different languages, it is quite a scenic backdrop.

But what sticks out for me in Los Angeles, the world’s 18th largest economy; the entertainment capital of the world; a town with more than 300 museums; palm trees and beaches, is the summer we got a new neighbor.

The Valentino family had just moved to Los Angeles from Buenavista, Mexico when I was 12. They moved right next door. The first thing we used to do when a new neighbor moved into the neighborhood was to watch them unload the truck.

If we happened to spot toys, we knew their would be a kid, also known as another playmate. That’s how we would measure if were going to have fun - the toys - always the toys.

As the truck was unloaded, my siblings and I anxiously looked, hoping we would see a sign. As the movers moved box after box, we didn’t see any sign of any toys.

Disappointed, my siblings went off to play but I was still hoping to see something. As the last box left the truck, I noticed that one of the movers had chicken wire, tons of it.

The truck pulled off and the Valentino family unloaded more things from their car. Though I still didn’t see any toys, I did see a cage with a rooster inside.

The rooster didn’t look too happy to be inside a cage. In fact his comb (that red part of the rooster’s head) made him look like a gladiator.

Though the film Gladiator wouldn’t be made for another 20 years, the rooster probably had a bone to pick with Russell Crowe.

I had only seen roosters in zoos, cartoons or books, I never imagined that one would live next door. Mr. Valentino carried the cage gently and disappeared into the new house.

The next morning at 5:00 a.m. there was a loud wake up call. Yes, the rooster made it known that he was up and he wanted everyone else to wake up too. If we didn’t hear his crow the first time, he would do it again and again and again.

At first I thought of it as a new puppy, how they cry when you leave them, but I soon learned that roosters don’t just crow at dawn, they crow all day long - everyday. All day.

I found out that the rooster's name was Agapito which I later found out meant “beloved.” From the backyard, I looked through the picket fence and saw Agapito strutting around like Mick Jagger on stage. He would go to one end of the yard and crow, then another part and repeat the same thing.

I kept my eye on him all summer that year. Mr. Valentino built an elaborate habitat out of chicken wire that was more like a penthouse than an extended cage. It had straw covering the bottom and it went from one end of his yard to the other in a unique design.

Mr. Valentino told me that he made the habitat so Agapito would feel protected. He didn’t want him out in the open because stray cats and dogs were on the prowl. The chicken is the closest living relative of the T-rex, but it lacked the strength to fend off predators.

He also told me that chickens lay different colored eggs; white, brown, green, pink and blue. The color of a hen's first egg is the color she will lay for life. Chickens that lay brown eggs have red ear lobes. It takes a hen 24-26 hours to lay an egg. Maybe that’s why there are more chickens than people in the world.

If a rooster is not present in a flock of hens, a hen will often take the role, stop laying, and begin to crow.

Mr. Valentino got a gift for Agapito, a beautiful brown hen he named Adora meaning “adoration.” Everyday Mr. Valentino would make sure that his birds were happy. He would talk to them lovingly, play flamenco music on the radio and figure out new ways to expand the habitat.

As the weeks passed, Agapito’s crow was just another part of the day. We only notice crowing in the morning because we are coming out of our sleep. It’s a wake up call. At times we need a wake up call so we won't stay asleep.

Life is a series of wake up calls. They wake us up to a new way of thinking, a new direction, a new relationship, or whatever is meant to get our attention and lead us to the right path.

If we stay asleep, we miss the opportunities awaiting. Love too is a wake up call. It gives us the desire to be awake.

I’ll never forget that summer with the rooster. It’s the wake up calls that I remember. The wake up calls.

What have been some of your wake up calls?