A New Hat for the Occasion

When meeting with chickens for the first time I find that it’s best to wear a new hat, and be firm, but polite. Down on Runt Farm we always try to maintain a bit of decorum even when facing new situations. You never know when a new acquaintance may become an ally or even a lifelong friend. In this case by being friendly I came away with a new understanding of “life in the pen” and 3 eggs. And my new friend Polly also admired my jewelry (which you cannot clearly see here, as she is in the way!)

I faced a new situation just last week when I went to a big TV studio. I thought there would be lots of bright lights and many behind-the-scenes people, wearing headsets and carrying clipboards. And especially I thought there would be camera operators, their eyes peering into the depths of the big rolling behemoths, their ears listening intently for the next cue to pan left, pull back or go in for the big close-up.

None of it was true! The studio inside was enormous and painted black as the inside of a weasel’s heart. I wasn’t afraid though, not a bit. There was some light of course on the people who were reading the news, but mostly everywhere else it was dark. Heavy cables snaked across the floor and I tried to be extra-specially quiet as I tiptoed gingerly over to my place. I knew about such things of course, like not making noise when a show is “ON THE AIR.”

But what I didn’t know is that all the camera operators had been abducted by weasels. They were nowhere to be seen. As I peered around the room I realized that the snakey cables were connected to half a dozen silent robot cameras. Below the one nearest to me I could see the words the newscaster was saying on a screen. You see they don’t make that stuff up most of the time. They read it and it’s in really BIG print so they can see it from across the room from the robots. 

It was then that I sort of felt sorry for my new friends Brad and Carolyn, the news people. They have to sit all day in a mostly dark place with bright lights in their faces and hardly anyone to talk to. I could see why they were so glad to see me. But I jumped when Carolyn said, “Hi, Amanda . . . love the hat.”

I wanted to say, “Shh, you’re ON THE AIR.”  but then I realized it was a commercial or something and it was okay to talk. I even figured out later how she knew it was okay. The little screen, they call it a teleprompter, tells them everything. One time when I looked over it said [TWO SHOT]. It wasn’t a news story or a latte order, it was to tell them that the camera was showing both people. Pretty cool, eh?

I didn’t have much time to figure anything else out, because pretty soon Brad came over and sat down and we had a little chat. Then it was my turn to be ON THE AIR. That’s when I forgot about the cables and lights and the cameras and even the teleprompter. Brad made it easy. It was just like talking with an old friend, a new old friend.  That’s all there was to it, really.

You can see what happened next by checking this out: Amanda on TV

Don’t forget your hat!
Amanda Lorenzo