Struttin’ his(?) stuff A
Story & photos by Donna Campbell
celebrity struts among us. He doesn’t give interviews, hides from reporters and autographs are out of the question. They’d probably look like chicken scratch anyway. Make that guinea scratch. Little G has become a star of Brookway Boulevard. He’s no doubt the most photographed fowl in Ole Brook. His mug’s been snapped at Gene’s Tire Pros, Dairy Queen, Taco Bell and Payless Shoes, but to borrow a famous line from a chicken commercial, they love that guinea at Popeye’s. The bird even has his own Facebook page, Brookhaven Popeyes Guinea Fans. G’s flock had grown to 2,183 people as of May 1. Sgt. Jonathan Alford with Brookhaven Police Department created the page because a goat in Bogue Chitto had one. “The goat had his own Facebook page and I figured the guinea needed one, too,” he said. The bird goes by several names — Guinea, Little G and Jeep are the most popular. “He’s not answering to any of those names so apparently we haven’t gotten it right yet,” he said. His fans don’t know the bird’s sex either. Is she a girl or is he a boy? Andy Brown at Gene’s Tire Pros has his suspicions. G meets him every morning about 7 a.m. “He’ll go down the windows in front of the store. If there are any bugs there, he takes care of it,” he said. Brown bought some guinea
LITTLE G LEFT HIS COOP TWO YEARS AGO; HAS BEEN ON THE LOOSE EVER SINCE
food and piled it on a Styrofoam plate. “I got some food for him, or her,” he said. “She wouldn’t eat it. I took the food out of the plate and put it on the concrete. She ate it just fine. She’s peculiar.” Brown said the employees at Gene’s enjoy their daily visit from G. “We adopted her as our mascot,” he said. “I think everybody down through there has done the same thing.” Little G has been a fixture along this small area of Brookway Boulevard for about two years. That’s when Michele Smith says the bird flew the coop, literally. The G story began when her father, Gary Boutwell Sr., traveled to Brookhaven from Lawrence County to buy a guinea from a woman from Franklin County. “He and my mom met her at the parking lot at Walmart to get it,” she said. “My dad said he got the guinea and was trying to get it into the pen but it got away, so Little G has been on the loose ever since.” Alford started the Facebook page so G’s paparazzi would have a place to post their snaps. “It started as a fun thing,” he said. “A lot of people like to take pictures of the bird.” He enjoys seeing Little G receive big fame. “People are definitely looking for him when they come here,” he said. “We need something to make people laugh.” Several people have posted photos of the guinea peeking in the windows at Popeye’s. “The little bird comes right up there and watches them eat chicken,” he said. “I don’t know if he’s making them feel guilty or what.” Lots of folks feed G when they go to get fed themselves. People will leave him little piles of food behind Dairy Queen and Popeyes, or toss bread to him from their car window as they roll through the drive-thru.
BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE 17