Chickens on the Bus

I have bad luck when it comes to passengers on buses. Always have. If there is an enthusiastically strange homeless guy, someone seriously horizontally challenged or a person allergic to showers guaranteed they always find their way to that empty seat next to me. So today when on the bus from Santo Domingo to Bonao a relatively normal looking young guy sat along side me, I knew it was too good to be true. And it was. He had been seated only a few seconds when the smell hit me, like a vicious assault upon my unsuspecting nostrils. I couldn't figure it out, he wasn't that unclean. He was carrying three sacks with draw strings and I assumed they held his belongings. Perhaps despite his average appearance he was homeless, it would explain the foul stench coming from his direction. He caught me assessing his bags and gestured toward them. I heard a strange noise coming from them and I responded with a curious look. He reached one arm deep into the depths of the bag... and pulled out a live, clucking chicken! His bags were full of live chickens. He sat one on his lap and gave me this goofy grin as if to say "look, I have a chicken!". I couldn't stop giggling the whole bus trip. It definitely explained the smell.