chicken in the offering plate

I love going to church in Togo. Someone gave a live chicken as their offering this morning. The chicken’s feet were tied together and it was on the floor behind the pastor.
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Now, I am sitting there trying my best to listen to the message that is being preached in a very foreign language and this poor chicken started yelping (do chickens yelp?) as loud as it could and of course I started laughing and the louder the chicken squawked the funnier I thought it was.
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Finally someone from the congregation went up to the front to get the chicken and take it outside. The preacher never missed a beat. But then again, the Togolese don’t think chickens are nearly as funny as I do.
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On the way home from church I rode, standing up, in the back of a pick up truck. Now that’s the way to travel. The only challenge of traveling that way is trying to keep your skirt from flying up. Anyway, I made it home without incident and without giving anyone a free show.