Murder most fowl: Who killed Pato?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvWwEGp43Nc&feature=youtu.be

Theirs was a friendship that defied the barriers of their species. Inseparable since they were hatchlings, Bantam is a rooster and Pato, as his name indicates, was a duck.  Apparently, Bantam thinks he’s a duck and Pato thought he was a rooster.

Whenever Bantam crowed, Pato quacked. Wherever one went, the other followed. You cross one, you anger the other. They were kings of the road in one block of Romarosa Townhomes, a closely-knit neighborhood on Luzon Avenue in Quezon City. Residents had to wait until the pair had cleared the middle of the street before they could drive in or out of the gated townhomes. Even the dogs stayed clear of this dynamic duo.

Bantam and Pato had become such popular celebrities in the neighborhood that no one dared disturb their early morning walks in their little corner of the world.  Whoever runs over them would be the most unpopular person in Romarosa, a resident once said.

Early this week, it finally happened. The world crumbled on Bantam before the break of dawn on Wednesday when Pato was crushed by an uncaring vehicle. News of Pato’s untimely demise cast a pall of gloom on Block 4, and an investigation was launched to find the culprit.

Michelle Sayson, who owns a sari-sari store in the block, said a household help woke her up Wednesday morning to report Pato’s fate. The help said he found the bloodied Pato in front of their gate with Bantam all over him, obviously trying to get him back on his feet. After investigation, the village security force determined that Pato was killed between 3:30 a.m., when the last of the fleet of jeepneys in the subdivision left the gate, and 5:15 a.m., when Pato was found dead. They have no suspects.

No one has come forward to own up to Pato’s death; the culprit apparently was scared he would be lynched by an angry mob.

Sayson said Bantam, who belongs to one of the breeds of chicken so called because of their size, was given to her as a chick by a neighbor three years ago. She put him in a wooden cage in front of her unit. Then she adopted the newly-hatched Pato from another neighbor, who apparently did not have the heart to turn him into “balut’’ but didn’t know how to raise him.

First, they were put in separate but adjoining cages. But when Bantam’s cage broke down, Michelle’s stepfather Danny allowed him to roam freely in the vacant lot in front of their unit. But seeing Bantam free as a bird, Pato was agitated; he too wanted out of his cage. Danny obliged and the two had been inseparable ever since. Until Wednesday’s tragedy.

There’s a postscript to this story of enduring fowl friendship. After Pato died, Michelle’s family worried about what might happen to Bantam with his lifelong friend gone. They decided to give him a new partner, a chick, and it looks like they hit it off well very quickly. Yes, Bantam has moved on. Yesterday, Bantam was seen with the chick—the female of the species—following him everywhere. Bantam was strutting like an alpha male. But wait until this chick gets fully grown. Her name is Texas. —ATE

Bantam moves on with his new chick.