The Love Story

THE LOVE STORY

by

Shalana Stephen

In the meadows of Cle Elum, Washington, lived a beautiful cow. Every morning the sun would rise and the light would press against her carmel eyes. The sunlight fell upon her light brown fur and turned it into a golden brown. Being a highland cow, she was blessed with a long, thick coat of hair. Once a month she would get groomed with different oils and conditioners so that her fur appeared more fluffy and unique. Every month, a crowd of people came to look at her. She had a pink bow placed above her right ear and another one place on her tail. She enjoyed this part of the month because she got many sweet treats for being around everyone. One month, she was waiting for everyone to show up but there was no one, for days. She saw her owner a lot less and many of her friends started disappearing. 

Tom came up to me and said, “Daisy, I love you but you are too extravagant.” I could feel my heart stop beating for a second because I knew something bad was happening. I knew my time was coming just like the rest of my friends. I loved where I lived and I loved Tom and I loved the shows once a month. This is isn’t fair, I thought. Next thing I knew, I was being hauled into a trailer. I wanted to burst out of there and runaway but I knew that it wouldn’t be fair to Tom if I did that. My body was pressed against both sides of the trailer without much wiggle room.  There were many windows that I could look out of and they gave me lots of fresh air. I was taking my last look around this place and it wasn’t easy. In my last glance, I saw Tom with tears streaming down his face. He was in pain and devastated and had nothing left to be proud of. I was heart broken.

After a long journey, my trailer came to an abrupt halt. I walked out slowly and a dog came running out to greet me. “Hi, I’m Baxter!”, he said. His tail was flying back and forth, tongue all the way out with drool sliding off, and he had black and white spots around his body. He was so full of energy but I think I like him. “Hi, I’m Daisy”, I responded shyly. My bow fell off my head and Baxter caught it just before it hit the ground. He held it in his wet mouth until his owner came to meet me. His owner wore a baseball cap to cover his hairless head, denim overalls, and brown work boots. He snatched the bow out of Baxters mouth and put it back on me. He put it behind my left ear instead of my right and this already upset me. He didn't pay attention to me much and just talked to the truck driver. The bow was soaking wet from being in Baxters mouth but there was so much happening around me, it didn't bother me at all. Baxter brought over to the other cows and not one of them said hi. Instead, they turned to the other cows next to them and started whispering. They were pretty bad at whispering because I could hear everything they were saying. Baxter saw that I was uncomfortable and told me that they would all come around eventually.

It has been two weeks now, and I am happy to say that I have made a couple of friends. Betsy and Baxter were my best friends. Betsy was a little bit older than me and was friends with everyone on the farm. She was a holstein, which means white with black spots. Since she liked me,, everyone else liked me a lot more. I was also friends with Echo, the newest chick on the farm. She always sat on top of my head and talked in my ear. This friendship also made me closer with the other chickens. The past few days, Echo has been spotting Otis staring at me. Otis was one of the most handsome bulls I had ever seen. He was a midnight black with eyes of gold. I noticed the staring once or twice myself but I don't really think anything of it. On the plus side, I did figure out my owners name is also Tom. He is nothing compared to other Tom. Everyone animal here does not like him because he doesn't treat us that well and he is very grumpy. He is also very old and deaf which means lots of parties.

We do this thing where every time Tom sleeps, we gather in the barn, order pizza, and blast music. We also walk around on just two hooves. If Tom does wake up, we cut the lights, hide the pizza, get down on all four, and pretend everything is normal. These parties make it hard to compare this farm to my old one. There has been lots of talk about a party tonight to celebrate Betsies pregnancy. From what I've heard so far, Otis is going to be there and pretty much everyone else. But, I’m excited to say the least.

I woke up late this morning to the smell of bacon. It was a sad day for all of the animals but also one of the only days Tom was smiling. I was sad about one of the pigs being gone but I also couldn't stop thinking about last night… Betsy was getting a lot of attention and I decided to sit at a table until everyone was done talking to her. I felt a nudge on my shoulder and quickly turned around. Otis was standing there and he asked if I wanted to dance. I got millions of butterflies in my stomach but I said yes, of course.  We danced and talked the whole time. It was the best night of my life. Today he found me again and we took a long walk in the meadow. He knew when to be funny and when to be serious. Everyday, we woke up ate breakfast with our fiends and hung out the rest of the day. We continued this for months.

One day, Otis stopped talking to me. I couldn’t figure out what I did. His dad told me to leave him alone and stop worrying about him. That was impossible to do. I tried to ask him what was wrong but there was no response every time. Then, Betsy told me that she had fund out some news. She heard Tom talking on the phone about Otis moving to a new farm in a couple of weeks. I was devastated but I still didn't understand why Otis wouldn't just tell me. I sat in the barn for days not knowing how to handle anything. Then, I heard a voice whisper, “Meet me at our spot at sunset”. It was him! I was so excited and looked at they sky all day, waiting for the sun to set. Finally, I ran over to our spot and there he was. He told me how much he missed me and and he couldn't stop kissing me. I told him to stop and just tell me what was wrong. It took him forever to finally spit it out. He said that as soon as he found out, his dad told him that he had to stop seeing me. He said, “If you don't stop falling in love with her, then both of your hearts are going to be broken in a couple of weeks”. Otis said that he thought his dad was right and that tonight was going to be the last time I ever talked to him. Then, he kissed me and ran off by his dad. I stayed out our spot, crying until sunrise. 

I saw his trailer pull up. Otis was groomed this morning and looked nice. He started walking over to the trailer. Every step was very reluctant. I know he didn't want this. No one wants this. There were no last goodbyes from him today. Every animal was sitting, watching him being driven away. He was half way down the drive and BOOM! The trailer door bursts open and dirt is flying everywhere. Otis is sprinting out towards us. All the animals are cheering! Otis slows down when he gets closer to me. He says, “Come on, we have to get out of here!”. My heart jumps and I start sprinting right along him. We ran until we couldn't run any longer. This was the start to our happily ever after.

THE END.