Gee
Jackson
RE: Everett Gee Jackson
Sirs:
In your review of Birds you were searching for Everett Jackson's wonderful tale of a rooster descending into the jungle from a DC4.
If you had searched a little harder, you would have found it at
The original source was not Burros and Paintbrushes, but Jackson's equally quirky It's a Long Road to Comondú --- Mexican Adventures Since 1928, published by Texas A & M Press.
It may be out of print now, but can probably be found at Powell's or ABE.
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As I crept toward the big white rooster with a golden ring around his neck, he moved to the very edge of the plane's floor and seemed to be taking a look through the open door at the jungle below. It was inconceivable to me that he would fly out if I pressed him. However, I soon learned that over the years I had been underestimating the spirit of a chicken, for before I could get my hands on him, out the door he went.
As long as I could, I watched his soaring, circular descent, and I believe he made the trip down successfully. As I watched him going down, it seemed to me that I was witnessing one of the most remarkable flights ever made by a domesticated fowl. I felt very sympathetic toward that rooster, and I hoped he would not only land safely, but, no other chickens being down there, that he might find some junglefowl --- perhaps a Quetzal bird --- to show him how to survive in a jungle environment.
Jackson is an artist --- sketches abound in this volume --- and an amateur archeologist. He also claims to be "bewitched" by Mexicans and Mexico, and It's a Long Road to Comondú might do the same to us. Upon his return to the United States,
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...we found that the bathtub, unlike those we had known in Mexico, was not filled with old newspapers and magazines and that it was actually hooked up to hot and cold running water. Clearly we were now in a world where common sense, cleanliness, efficiency, and impeccable order reigned supreme ... despite this nice new situation, we were not at all happy. We did not prefer this efficiency. Surely we both had been bewitched.
