Rich Hughes Jr. was snowed in at the U.S. Postal Service’s processing center over the weekend when he heard the unmistakable crow of a rooster.
“I thought, what is going on here?” said Hughes, a building equipment mechanic at the center near BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.
It was exactly what it sounded like.
Complete blizzard 2016 coverage
The rooster—which Hughes is calling Wilson—was set to be delivered to the post office in Woodbine. But the historic blizzard shut down USPS operations, and the rooster was stranded.
“I knew he wasn’t going to make it through the weekend without food and water,” Hughes said.
He couldn’t in good conscience let the rooster die, so Hughes fed him Cheez-Its and water and worked to track down the customer who was expecting him. He even played a little hide-and-seek with him (Wilson was really good at hiding, Hughes said later).
Hughes brought Wilson to his happy new owner in Woodbine Monday afternoon.
So why did he decide to call him Wilson?
After Tom Hanks’ only companion, the Wilson volleyball, in the movie Castaway.
“Because I was in there all by myself with him,” Hughes said.
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