Junior Baker drives out to an exotic animal farm to buy a boa constrictor. He changes his mind after he first lays eyes on "Pushrod." The exotic animal owners sedate Pushrod for the ride back to Junior’s place.

First thing, Junior builds a pen using two-by-fours and chicken wire. "Pushrod’s pen looks pretty solid to me," says the boy’s mama, who is glad her son didn’t buy "'a big ol’ snake like he said he would."

After a couple of hours the sedative wears off and Pushrod springs to life. Junior is having supper with mama when the critter gives one side of the home-made pen a couple of swift kicks with its muscular three-toed feet — and then he’s out of there. Junior and mama are not aware of Pushrod’s escape.

Supper is interrupted by a telephone call from a neighboring farm. "That ‘thing’ of yours just ran through my mustard greens like he was shot out of a cannon," the neighbor says. "By the time he got to the road he was doing 45, at least," the neighbor yells on the phone.

Junior springs to his pickup, leaving behind a cloud of dust. As Junior scans the countryside for a sign of Pushrod, he connects with Deputy Sheriff Biggers on citizens band radio.

"I’ve got a coil of rope in the trunk," the deputy says. "Soon as you spot him — he’s mine." However, let it be known, that although Deputy Biggers is a fair hand at calf roping, he has never tackled the likes of Pushrod — a fleet-footed, 7 foot tall, three year old Australian ostrich.

It takes several hours but the posse finally manages to gather up Pushrod. Unharmed, the bird is tranquilized by a local veterinarian for the trip back to the exotic animal farm.

Junior hopes they’ll give him his money back. He’s too embarrassed to say how much he actually paid for the critter. "But maybe they’ll give me some of it back," Junior says with a goofy smile on his face.