Every Thursday the animals
knew that the family would be gone for most of the evening until
close to after dark
This discovery had been
made by accident, the cows began to understand that on a certain day
the woman and girl would leave in the afternoon, always in a rush.
Then a while later the boy
people would begin to feed the chickens, water all of the animals and
try to convince the dairy cows to go into their pen and lock the
gates behind them.
The animals would hear the
boy people yell at each other, run out with orange balls and jump
into the large green car. They would tear out the driveway, race down
the road..... and then nothing.
Silence, no voices
heard.... until much later, when the woman and girl would come home,
go into the house, change and come out with lights to check on water
and food for all. So although the day was not routine,
it became part of the
anticipated cycle and the animals were content with the arrangement.
Now the woman and girl
would race out each Thursday and go into the nearby city to shop and
take the girl to her choir practice. So usually they would be home at
close to the same time
each evening.
But one evening on the way
back to the farm there was a terrible accident, now the woman and
girl were not involved but the traffic delay was 2 hours!
Novella began to listen
for the woman at the expected time, but heard nothing. She waited and
listened.
"Quiet Mattie!"
she mooed." I am trying to listen I can not hear over your lip
smacking".
Mattie tried to control
her self " sorry, but I'm so hungry, where can they be!"
"maybe they are gone!
and never coming home and we will starve!" Sunny bawled.
"Calm yourself
heifer" Novella snapped. " I have known the woman for a
long time, she will not forget us, No she must be in some sort of
trouble. I am sure of it. And here we sit, or lie, not helping at
all!"
She began to pace the pen,
"That's it, If the
mountain will not come to Mohammad, Mohammad will go to the mountain"
said Novella
"What are you talking
about?" Mattie questioned
Novella did not answer,
she headed to the gate and walked through it.
"Oh boy!! said Sunny
" let's have some fun!"
"Finally" said
Mattie.
Novella had already headed
up to the house so the 2 younger girls scampered to catch up.
They looked in the
windows, nothing.
They looked in the
greenhouse, only plants in there " they do look delicious"
slurped Novella
They looked in the chicken
coop, nothing but bird brains in there ""they're starting to
look pretty delicious too" said Mattie.
Novella turned and headed
for the road....
"lets go Mom!"
trumpeted Sunny
The three rather large
sillhouettes headed down the road. They made poor time, what with all
the distractions.." oh so much grass" they all burped.
Several hours later the
woman and girl headed down the road, "Mom, what is that!"
asked the girl.
As the headlights
illuminated the 3 escapees, the woman said " oh my! thank
goodness they're alright! those boys must have left the gate open!"
"Don't worry mom,
I'll get mad at them for you" offered the girl.
The three cows ran in
after the woman and girl.
As the woman got out of
the car, Novella sighed, "good"
The three girls went to
the pen and the woman brought food and pats all around.
"Goodness, if I
didn't know better I would swear you were waiting for us!"
Novella just stared at
her.
