With All My Wits About Me, How Shall I Face Him?

My Most Formidable Foe

Sherlock had his Moriarty. Father Brown had his Flambeau. I have my Nameless Menace.

We are as opposite as night and day. And yet, I know that if I let down my guard, if even for a moment, I will have given away much more space in my life than I can spare.

He is a like a whirling disc, a metal coin rotating slowly above my head, one that follows me everywhere and knows my every move.

Yet this is my only solace—if it were not for such a monumental menace pursuing me, then I would never have any idea of how great a detective I truly am.

He is not a chicken, and yet around him are symbols seemingly made like chicken scratching that contain mysterious marks that hold special meaning known only to him, Mr. Nameless.

I imagine a tear appearing in one of his eyes. It will slowly roll down his cheek and land on me. It burns, this tear from eyes that now are unknowing of joy or connection to another heart.

Perhaps this is the face of the one who takes care of us chickens here in the Backyard Garden, our own Nate, only all grown up. That would make this a recurring vision of the future. But could our Nate, the one who brought us up and fed us every day, honestly be the Nameless Menace?

I have heard before from tunes sung by our visiting songbirds that our greatest friend can turn into our greatest enemy. Knowing that, I feel quite truly helpless.

No, it is not Nate who has somehow changed. It is an enchantment placed upon him that has turned him into someone who he is not. The enchantment was placed by someone he trusted and who lied to him. That same person stole from him what he would have generously given until there was nothing more to give, not even to those he considers family, his chickens.

One More Reason to Call Her “Amazing”!

Pearl’s Amazing Flying Karate Kick

One of the most curiously amazing things about Pearl is that she is a master of Ninja Flying Kicks. Partly this is because she is a chicken, but take a careful look at the illustratration above that shows her dressed up in her Japanese Gi.

You may think that this is just a normal costume that she has managed to put together, but that is not the case at all. Although she has taught herself to sew, this Gi uniform came from the Thrift Store and was altered a good deal to make it fit her.

In the illustration for which she repeatedly posed, and you will see that she has two wings, two legs (with extra toes), and two hands with fingers!

The story Behind Pearl’s Two Hands

Pearl’s hands usually remain hidden (disguised) beneath her wings, and so they are easily missed. We have been working on a mystery story titled The Night of the Nuggets about Pearl’s search for her past. What she learn while investigating was the story behind her physical differences which make her not look like the other chickens.

What she learned at the main factory of the Chicken Nugget Syndicate was that she and Blanche came from a chicken hatchery operated by the dangerously evil Syndicate. They were part of an experiment to create larger and tastier chicken nuggets.

The experimental chemicals given to her mother hen left Blanche with a condition whereby she grew quickly after hatching and eventually died much too young. The experiment left Pearl with a pair of powerful arms that she kept hidden beneath her wings.

With the help of her brother, who hatched at the same time with Blanche and Pearl, she received training and coaching in martial arts which he studied in depth or just as if he was a Page of the Living Library.

Instead of growing up and becoming a Page for The Living Library because of his expert knowledge in martial arts, he was placed a trash can at the hatchery because they had no need for boy chicks who would grow up to be roosters. The hatchery only wanted girl chickens who would grow up to be hens who laid eggs that could be sold for money or hatch into more chickens who could be turned into nuggets.

Irony of Ironies

Pearl’s two arms were the result of an experiment conducted by the Chicken Nugget Syndicate. The scientists only wanted to produce more valuable chickens. Those arms turned out to be part of what made her flying Karate kicks so powerful and devastating to anyone who tried to prevent her from doing good for others.

Those arms created by the Chicken Nugget Syndicate’s experimentation eventually freed all of the chickens held in tiny cages with barely any room to stand, and that led to the downfall of the Chicken Nugget Syndicate.

A Perfect Spot for Seeing As Much As Possible

We Truly Do Have Our Fans in Our Minds and Hearts

As you may know, Pearl and I have spent a great deal of time together thinking about and discussing our online presence.

Recently one afternoon, as Pearl and I were thinking and discussing what to do to keep our fans informed about what’s going on with us, I noticed that she was poking her head out of a hole in the fencing. After I quickly did a loose sketch to later firm up with ink and color, I showed it to her.

“So do you get the message now?” she asked. “We need to give the fans The Perfect Spot to see all that is going on!”

It was like turning on a lightbulb in the chicken coop, and I got to work right away on The Perfect Spot. It would be one place for everyone to go to discover what was happening with us. And if they used another spot, it would always link back to The Perfect Spot

So guess what!? That’s where you are right now!

You can also view additional content at:

Pearl’s Own Perfect Spot website Thanks!

My Name Is Pearl—Just Pearl

It really doesn’t matter if you remember to add “Amazing” or even “Miss” in front of it. I will still love you and want to entertain you!

The one who brings me food sat down recently to discuss some changes. One of those changes was to start this website as a substitute for a weekly newsletter we were producing on SubStack.

Think of it as stretching out over several days what we used to do in sometimes just one day.

Everything we write and illustrate here will go out with a notification to you and our other readers right away while it is just as fresh as an egg that has been laid by me or one of the other hens here!

The other change is that we will be including everything we would normally have here and Substack and Medium in ONE central location. We are going to be using Ko-Fi for that.

Imagine that! Everything in just one spot! No subscriptions, but you can donate to the chickens on Ko-Fi! And I’m sure they would appreciate you tremendously!

https://ko-fi.com/amazingpearl