Mr. Pinkwater:
I am well-acquainted with your book THE HOBOKEN CHICKEN EMERGENCY, and sent you several letters about it at the time of publication. You replied in a gentlemanly manner, and assured me that the use of my name, and characterization of Anthony DePalma as a trapper of wild and renegade domestic animals was no more than an astonishing coincidence.
I took you at your word, and assured you that I would not resort to the law. In fact, my purpose in writing was less to question the appearance of your Anthony DePalma character, than to register my dismay at your presentation of an extremely large chicken as a benign and friendly creature.
Giant chickens are unpredictable and potentially dangerous. In a long career of dragging 13-foot alligators out of crawlspaces, and netting enraged muskrats, I have had some of my–let us say–most interesting experiences when confronted by ill-tempered fowl.
Now you come out with another book. LOOKING FOR BOBOWICZ, in which you offer the reader the same, giant-chickens-are-friendly myth. And I know you know better, because I myself informed you of the facts. Most alarming is that it is a book marketed for young readers. How can you sleep nights knowing that some child might innocently approach a 200-pound rooster, believing it to be safe, having read your work of fiction?
Mr. Pinkwater, you may be a very fine writer–I am no judge, being a simple wrangler of dangerous animals–and I am sure your stories of giant chickens provide entertainment for many. But, how can you expose the public to such dangerous misinformation? Have you no sense of decency? Have you at long last no sense of decency?
Or, can it be that you are in cahoots with the corporate greed-heads in that company, which I believe has Halliburton money behind it, responsible for developing these unnatural giant chickens? Don’t you rapacious capitalists have any concern for the environment and the safety of the public?
I suspect this falls on deaf ears–but I defy you to post this letter, and let the readers decide.
Anthony DePalma
As you see, the webmaster has posted your email. This is an open forum, and except for obscene, slanderous or seditious material, everyone's comments will be posted [mostly] unedited. I will say this, and make no further comment on the subject: I have never met a chicken I didn't like.
