Who Left the Chicken in the Chick Inn?

Who Left the Chicken in the Chick Inn?
By Nadine Briggs

At my teen social groups this week, I wanted to teach the teens how to listen to and respond to a story that someone else thought was interesting – even if he or she didn’t think it was interesting at all. In order to be approachable and to be a person who other people want to engage in conversation, we need to understand that how we respond matters. The way we respond can determine if the person who has engaged us in conversation will decide whether or not he or she wants to continue to start up conversations with us in the future.

In order to be a good friend and be cognizant of other people’s feelings, we occasionally need to act as though we are interested, even if it is a topic or story that doesn’t interest us. To be a true friend, we need to know how to be engaging, ask questions, and make comments that add to what the person is telling us.  I also help teens to understand that we should listen to, and match, the tone of the person talking to us. If he or she is excited, the response we give should be somewhat excited as well. If he or she is telling us something he or she thinks is shocking, we should respond as though we are also somewhat shocked. For kids and teens who are not naturally good at this aspect of conversation, it can take some practice to get the appropriate tone. I asked the teens to share interesting stories with the group so we could respond. If one of my groups couldn’t think of any stories to share, it was their lucky day that day and they got to hear my own story of the mystery of how the chicken got into the Chick Inn.

My story requires some background explanation which gave the teens more experience in learning to listen to the background of a story so it will make sense to them.  My teens usually get bored easily, but I was pleased to see how well they did with this exercise.  Here’s the story:

The group of friends who I hang out with regularly are referred to as the Chickies. We have game nights and movie nights and generally have a great time together. Because I live near wetlands and the mosquitoes are really bad in the summertime, I have a cabana with screened in walls in my yard. It’s sort of my “lady cave.”  It’s a peaceful place to hang out and it’s awesome when the solar lights come on at dusk. And it’s called the Chick Inn (of course!)

During the recent eclipse, my husband and I went outside to watch it in the Chick Inn. As I got closer to the cabana, I realized there was something sitting on the coffee table. Much to my happy surprise somebody had left a ceramic chicken in the Chick Inn. I thought it was hysterically funny. The thought of one of my friends creeping into my yard in the dead of night and leaving this unexpected gift on my table amused me to no end. The puns on social media were endless:

“The plot chickens.”
“Nadine is ruffling some feathers.”
“Clearly someone is egging you on.”
“Eggs-specting some chickie will crack the case.”
“I’m pecking around to see what I can find out.”

The teens responded so well to listening and interacting with my story that I couldn’t tell if they were truly interested or if they had just mastered this activity.  They asked questions about who lives close by, were any clues left behind, had I dusted for fingerprints, who knew when I was home and so on.  All the groups did a great job of making conversation about the whodunit.

But the question still remains, who left the chicken in the Chick Inn?