In this short piece, Benham must do justice to the bizarreness of the event and its details but not belittle the little girl’s fear and injury. We like the details that Benham provides, and the language she uses to do so: The girl, Dechardonae, was “lugging her Easy Bake Oven”—notice the work that one verb, “lugging,” does—when the rooster attacked. The “offending” rooster’s name was “Rockadoodle Two.” Throughout the piece, Benham uses irony for humor—her language echoes a crime report—but she doesn’t overdo it.

Read “Rampaging Rooster Attacks Girl,” by Kelley Benham

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