In Deepstep, Georgia there lived a curious and adventurous chicken named Carrie Mae.  Every day she stared across the road that went by the farm, wondering what was on the other side.
“Why can’t I cross the road?” she squawked at her mother. 
 “Because you could get hit by a car,” Mom answered.  “It’s dangerous to cross the road.”
Carrie Mae grumbled to herself.  “Shoot, I can outrun any ol’ car.”
One day she spotted a pile of corn kernels by a tree on the other side of the road.  Her stomach growled.  “Well I declare, would you look at that,” she said.
Carrie Mae looked left and right.  As her eyes swept past the tree, she saw a red, bushy tail waving from behind it.
Ahhh, she thought.  A fox. 
After pondering the problem, she went to look for her friend, Red Squirrel.  He had been eating way too many acorns lately, and had grown rather... corpulent.  
“My, my, Red,” clucked Carrie Mae.  “That is a mighty handsome tail you have there.   You know, I was wondering.  Do you think you could do me a teensy weensy favor?”
            “Sure thing, ma’am,” Red said.  “What would you like me to do?”
 “Well, if you would hide behind… bzzz bzzz, and then when I yell…bzzz bzzz, you wave… bzzz bzzz,” she whispered in his ear.
“Got it,” said Red.
            Carrie Mae checked and the fox was still there.  
 “Buck-buck-buckock,” she squawked, her signal to Red Squirrel.  Then she darted across the road.
The fox jumped out from behind the tree, slobbering and cackling with glee, when  something across the road suddenly caught his eye.
A large, red, bushy tail was waving from behind a tree.
Carrie Mae quickly grabbed a corn kernel and high tailed it home. 
“Ha!” she clucked.  “Piece of cake.”  She looked back to see the fox just standing there, looking Wiley Coyote-ish, left in the dust.
Next morning Carrie Mae thought she’d try her luck again.  It was fun playing “outsmart the fox.”  She looked across the road. The pile of corn was still there.  And the red bushy tail was back, waving from behind the tree.
Silly ol’ fox, Carrie Mae thought.  She was so busy feeling superior, she forgot to signal Red Squirrel. 
Running across the road, she grabbed a corn kernel and was racing back to her side when behind her there was a SCREECH!  THUNK.   
Carrie Mae froze, and slowly turned around.  From underneath a blue pickup truck poked the tip of a red, bushy tail.   
And the moral of the story is:
Mama always knows best, and if you don’t believe it, ask Dad.