IN   THE

BARN-YARD

" You're the only chicken in the barnyard !"  George
yelled at Billy. And he said it right there in front of all
their classmates on the playground during recess.
 

George always picked on Billy. That's because Billy was the
smallest kid in class. George was the well-known bully at
school. It always hurt Billy's feelings when George teased
and made fun of him. George seemed to like calling Billy
a chicken all the time. But even tho' George wasn't very
nice to him, Billy felt sorry for him. George didn't seem to
have any friends at school. That was probably because he
wasn't very nice to anyone. George sat in the very back of
the classroom, most of the time making funny chicken noises
with his mouth and calling Billy names.
 

Billy was nine years old and just a few months younger
than George. Billy was a Born-again Christian. He'd gotten
Saved just a few months ago. He had Invited Jesus into his
heart one night during a Revival at his church. Billy sure
loved the Lord ! He always read his Bible every night before
he went to sleep. But Billy wished that George knew his
Saviour Personally too, as he did. Yes, he felt sorry for
George. He had no friends and it seemed like he was always
getting into trouble for misbehaving.
 

It was the last day of school and tonight was the first
night of the big Rodeo. The rodeo came to town each year
in June. Billy looked forward to tonight. He was going to
wear his new wrangler jeans that his mother had bought him,
along with his new boots and cowboy hat. He was going to look
just like a real live cowboy !  Just about all of his friends
from school would be at the Rodeo. George would be there
too.
 

The man on the microphone just announced that it was
time for the 10 and 11 year olds to get ready for the
'chicken chase' contest. "Oh boy !" exclaimed Billy. He'd
been looking forward to this for a long time. Last year he
hadn't been quite old enough to enter this contest. He
quickly climbed down from the bleachers and entered the
big rodeo arena.
 

When Billy got to the middle of the arena, George was
already there. He looked at Billy and said 'No use in you
even trying, 'coz I'm gonna win !'  Billy didn't say anything
back to him. He just ignored him. Billy knew he had to really
run fast to catch that chicken though !  All the boys knew
what the big prize was for the one who caught the
chicken. There were nine boys now standing in the middle
of the rodeo arena, hoping to win that prize.
 

The prize was a shiny silver cowboy belt-buckle and whoever
won the buckle would get their name engraved on it. Billy
sure wanted to win that prize !

The announcer yelled "Ok Buck, let those chickens go now..
You youngin's get ready...Whoever catches that chicken wins
the Big Prize !  Get ready....Set....Go ! "
 

The announcer blew the whistle and all the boys starting
running. Billy took off like a bolt of lightening !  He ran
after that chicken as fast as he could !  He looked around
and saw all the other boys running after it too. Everyone
was bumping into each other and laughing and having a
wonderful time trying to catch that chicken. Just at the
right moment, Billy reached down as he got close to the
chicken and he grabbed it !  He got it !  He was just about
to run with it over to the judge when that chicken jumped
right out of his arms !  Now he had to start all over again.
Phooey !  Billy took off again, chasing after it.
 

Almost ten minutes had gone by and still nobody had
caught that chicken yet. Billy looked around and suddenly
noticed that all of the other boys had given up.  Everyone
except George, that is. 'I guess chasing after that chicken
just plum wore them out', Billy laughed to himself. That
was okay with him because he was counting on winning
that silver buckle himself !
 

It was just him and George now, trying to catch the
chicken. Billy and George were both chasing it in the
middle the rodeo arena.  It was a real contest now, just
between the two of them.  But Billy out-ran George and
was just almost close enough now to reach down and grab
the chicken.
 

All of a sudden, George ran right up behind Billy and stuck
his foot out and deliberatley tripped him !  Billy fell right
smack on his face into the dirt. Then George started running
after the chicken, but it was much too fast for him. Billy
knew he could run much faster than George. He'd already
beat him a bunch of times at school during the relay-races.
 

Billy got up off the ground and started running again !
Before long he had the chicken cornered. This time he
was sure to catch it !
 

Just as Billy was about to grab the chicken in his hands,
he turned around to see where George was. He was going
to make sure that George didn't try to trip him again,
or push him down. But George had stopped running. He
wasn't even trying any more. He was just standing there.
 

Billy could see tears running down George's face.
His face was all red and he looked tired and hot. Billy
could see that George had run out of steam. He was all
worn out. Just then, he felt very sorry for George.
 

'Golly, George really does want to win the Prize, awful
bad', Billy thought to himself.  'It sure seems to
mean a lot to him.' Well, right then Billy decided
that he was going to let George catch that chicken.  In
fact, he was going to help George to catch it !
 

Billy reached down as if to grab the chicken. Only, he
didn't catch it. He let it slip past him.  George saw the
chicken run off again, so he took off running after
it, as fast as he could go. Billy ran too, right behind
George, but making sure this time that he didn't run too
fast. And when George reached down this time to grab it,
he finally caught it !

The chicken wasn't hurt at all. They were all very
careful not to squeeze it too tight or hurt it.
 

George ran over to the judge to show him he had
caught the chicken. He had the biggest smile on his face !
Billy had never seen George so happy before. He was glad
for George when the judge handed him the shiny silver
cowboy buckle.  Billy was kind of disapointed about not
winning that prize, but he was still glad that he'd let
George catch the chicken and win the contest. Billy didn't
see George again until school started back up
in September.
 

On the first day of school, the bell rang
for recess to start. Billy noticed in class that day that
George hadn't teased him even once. He hadn't called him
any names either. Billy walked over to the merry-go-round
and sat down to eat the snack his mother had packed for
him in his lunch box that day. He looked up to see George
walking toward him.
 

Billy said 'Hi George.'  George sat down on the
merry-go-round next to Billy. He was wearing the silver
cowboy belt-buckle he had won that night at the Rodeo.
 

Neither one of the two boys said anything for a few
minutes.  Then George looked over at Billy and said
'Thanks Billy.' Billy looked at him and said, 'For what
George ?'
 

'For letting me win the prize at the Rodeo that night.'
'I know you could've caught that chicken, if you'd really
of' wanted to Billy.' 'Everybody knows you can run much
faster than me.  'So I just wanted to say thank you.'
'And Billy......I'm sorry I called you 'The only chicken
in the barn-yard' all those times. You're not a chicken
at all. And....well....I don't have any friends, but I'd
like for you and me to be friends....that is....if that's
okay with you.'
 

Billy told him that it was okay with him if they were
friends. He knew that George lived with his grandmother
and that they never went to church anywhere. He knew
too that they didn't have much money. Billy figured that
belt-buckle was the only thing George had ever won in
his whole life.
 

Billy was thinking just then about what he'd learned
in Sunday School about being kind to others, and about
being a good witness for his Saviour Jesus Christ. He
hoped that others would see the light of Christ shining
thru' him. He remembered the Preacher at his church
saying one time that it's better to give, then to receive.
Billy had wanted to do something nice for George so
he'd let him win the rodeo contest that night.
 

He looked at George and asked, 'George, would you
like to come to Sunday School with me next Sunday
morning ?' George answered 'Yeah, I sure would.
Thanks Billy.'
 

Then with a grin, Billy said, 'But next year George,
I'm gonna win the silver belt buckle !'  And then George
said 'You mean you're gonna catch the only chicken in
the barn-yard ?!' They both started laughing when George
said that.
 
 

From then on, Billy and George were friends. George
went to Sunday School with Billy that next Sunday. And
he went with him to church the next Sunday, and the
next, and the next. That year George too made the
decision to call on Jesus Christ to forgive him for his
sins and to Save him. When George grew up, he got
married to a nice Christian lady. He became a Preacher.
 

Many years later, when George was an old man, his
great-grandkids sat around his feet one day, listening to
him tell them stories about his childhood and growing-
up-years. One of his grandkids looked up at him and asked
'Grandpa, where did you get that shiny silver belt-buckle ?'
George just smiled and answered, "Kids, did I ever tell you
the story about 'The only chicken in the barnyard ?'
 

Author/Short Story written by:
Tammy Boatman-Young
April 2004