Philippines Cock Fight

Walking down a dirt road, you can hear the cheers. It's Sunday afternoon and the Filipinos don't play football. Must be...it is... cock fights. The arena is full of men with the glass encased ring. The betting starts with the bookies waving and gesturing to their clients. In the ring the two cocks size one another up, line to line, then fluff their feathers with a friendly, as the two owners hold on to their tails and let the adrenaline start to pump. The sheath is removed from the knife on the claw. Betting stops. The crown quiets. The two cocks are placed on their line, then released, owners stepping back.

They size each other up. They strut. Then fly at one another, meeting mid air, feathers flying. Wings beat, crowds cheer. The referee picks them up and face them off again at mid ring. They continue until one falls submissive on the ground. Dead, almost dead, playing dead, doesn't mater. After a three count, it is a marked looser.


Bets are paid. Money is thrown into the ring. New men with new birds enter, odds ore determined, bets are placed and we start again.