“It was a hot, sunny day when I met that crazy chicken. So hot that sometimes I think the whole thing may have been a mirage. But mirages don’t have chicken breath, mister.”

This humorous story opens with intrigue and establishes this “crazy chicken” character, which the author will reveal more about later in the narrative. This passage also establishes J.J.’s funny but cynical narrator voice.

“I spent seven years as a search-and-rescue dog. The quiet life in the country where Barb, my trainer, lived was some reward for all those years of service. Some reward.”

J.J.’s introduction provides his backstory and current predicament of living a dull life in the countryside, introducing the theme of Purpose and Belonging. This passage highlights his intelligence and provides context for why he is so bitter about living at Barb’s country house with the chickens.

“Sugar peeped. I growled again. Sugar took a step closer, bracing herself against the water bowl. ‘Poppy and Sweetie are missing,’ she whispered. She may have looked fluffy and new, but this chick had already learned that life outside the shell was not all it was cracked up to be.”

Sugar the chick shows her smarts in this important passage as she explains her family’s predicament to an annoyed J.J. Sugar plays an important role in the story, and J.J. foreshadows her role in Poppy and Sweetie’s abduction by recognizing her intelligence and worldliness.