Of Pants and Chickens

The other day I witnessed a funny scene that went as follows:

The morning is nice and cool and I'm sitting by a small charcoal grill-like thing with the mom (Dedehi) of my family. We are sitting on a woven mat in the dirt yard while she grills a fish on the charcoal. There is a chicken and about 7 chicks running around the yard, as well as a goat wandering around. Some of the kids are at school, and the ones at home are popping in and out of the concrete house.
"Where did the chicken come from?" I ask.
"Oh - Mohamed brought it home." She says.
We watch for a second as the chicken runs around pecking incessantly at the ground.
"What's wrong with that chick?" I ask, referring to a small one limping around, supporting itself by puffy wing.
"It has a bad leg... poor chick." She says.
"Poor chick." I agree.
We talk a little more about grilling fish verses grilling goat meat, and how both are pretty delicious. She finishes the fish and we begin to pick it apart with our hands and eat it with bread. We look at the door and the 2-year-old Siyad walks out.
"Come here and eat some fish." She says as she beckons him over.
Siyad adorably waddles over in a little shirt with no pants, eyes wide and observing. As he passes the chicken he stops for a second, looking at it skeptically. Being skeptical was good, because in the next second the chicken jumped at him and pecked his unprotected pecker. Siyad screamed in well-deserved horror and danced in place, covering his injured crotch. Dedehi jumped up and ran shouting "Yasser Amer-ack!!" (May god shorten your life - a very common insult in Hassaniya) at the chicken and scooping bewildered Siyad into her arms. I on the other hand am laughing so hard tears are forming in my eyes. Dedehi throws a rock at the chicken, which sqwaks and ruffles it's feathers. She returns to the mat next to me and now she is laughing too.
"That's why you need to wear pants!" She says, giggling and rocking Siyad back and forth.
The other kids come outside to see what the commotion was and also fall into stints of laughter, smiles wide and bright, as their mom recounts the story. She makes one of the kids bring little Siyad some cotton pants and puts them on his small body. He stands in the yard with a tear-stained face looking at the chicken angrily. When the chicken takes a turn and comes toward him he screams in fear and runs back to his mothers side.
"Scared of a chicken!" She bellows, laughing deep from the belly.

****** fast forward to later that evening

We are sitting in a room and one of the kids is making tea. The weather's slightly steamy and a cool breeze blows through the window. Dedehi and her friend sit chatting while I lean on a pillow grading some papers.
"Am I saying this right?" I ask her, reciting a line in Hassaniya.
"It;s better to say it like this..." She says, giving me an example.
As we sip our glasses of tea, Siyad wanders into the room, pant-less once again.
"Look at him!" She tells me, shaking her head. "Where are your pants!" She asks Siyad.
He looks at her and waves his little hand nonchalantly in the direction of the other room.
"Tsk tsk... I'm gonna get that chicken. Heeeere chicken, come here chicken!" She jokes.
Siyad looks at us and immediately covers himself, eyes slightly widened. We all burst out laughing at the site of a poor 2-year-old holding himself in fear of a chicken. He then gets his pants and brings them to his mom, who helps him put them on. We agree that this is a good way to get Siyad to start wearing pants more often - Chicken Threat.

*****The Next Day

I walk in the yard to see the chicken tied with some cloth to a broken wooden box in the corner of the yard. Pant-less Siyad is playing with his brother by the house. Looks like little Siyad won this battle. That is until those little chicks grow up...

I can't help but wonder how many pant-less kids are victim to this kind of attack in Aleg - because there are a LOT of pant-less kids in these streets. Though, now when I see them, I'm gonna chuckle to myself as I recall Siyad's scene in the yard that day.