Summary

Pages 52 – 62. The colonel awakes one Friday and prepares the rooster’s breakfast. His wife angrily reacts to the attention he’s paying it, and then starts making plans to plant some roses … but, shortly afterwards, decides there’s not really a point.

The colonel’s weekly journey to check for mail is interrupted first by the arrival of a circus (which distracts him) and then by the sounds of a cockfight, which draw him closer to the pit where the fight is taking place. There he is surprised to see his rooster, nervous and shaking, with fighting barbs on its ankles. The colonel watches as the rooster defends himself from the attacks of its opponent, never actually attacking. At the conclusion of the fight, as the crowd is responding to the rooster’s victory with wild excitement, the...