As the first rays of the sun rose over the mountain, the clock chimed through the house. Mother stood at the bottom of the stairs calling for us to rise and shine. Father was out tending the cattle. Tom and I cam down the stairs to the kitchen with food on our minds. Mother served eggs with sausage, applesauce and milk. As we sat down, Father returned from the barn. He had a worried look on his face. After washing, he sat down to breakfast. We both waited for Father to tell us what was wrong. Father asked us to help him find a pregnant cow, however, chores would have to come first. When we finished breakfast, I picked up the dishes for Mother and started my chores. Before we knew it Mother was fixing lunch.
We hadn’t had time to ask Father about the cow until then. The sandwiches were set on the table. After hands were washed, Father said grace. When he was finished, before you could blink, the sandwiches disappeared. We were hungry! We asked Father about the cow. Father said there was no sign of her. We asked to be excused from the table to go look for the cow. Father told Tom and I to go look down the path to the back pasture while he headed up the road to the village.
As we ran outside, the warm sun met us. Tom and I raced down the path looking for the cow. When we came to an old fallen tree, we sat to rest. Looking about we wondered where she could be. She couldn’t have gone far in her condition? Could she? Well, there was no time for delay. We started calling for the cow. We would stop and listen. The most we could hear was a slight rustle of the breeze in the trees and the sound of bees near by. I looked in the low lying brush that we came to on our way. Tom climbed a tree to see if he could spot her, all he saw was more pasture. Not knowing how long we had been gone, we decided to head toward home. As we got on the path toward home Tom noticed the breeze had picked up. It had turned kind of cloudy. We decided to race home.
As we got there, Father was standing by the barn door. When he spotted us, he waved us to the barn. When we reached him, we asked if he had found the cow. He told us to lower our voices and to follow him. Once inside and our eyes adjusted to the somewhat dark barn, Father pointed to a corner where we saw the cow. But to our surprise and joy there was a baby calf. It was black with a white spot on its head. Father told us on his way up the road he had heard a strange sound. To him it sounded like a cow in trouble, so he decided to follow the sound. In a thicket he spotted the cow ready to give birth. He arrived in time to clear a spot for the calf when it came. After the calf was delivered and cleaned, Father lifted the calf and carried it home. Out of instinct the mother followed.
What a day it had been! First the hunt for this mama cow and then the birth of her calf. As we stood watching the calf and its mother, we heard Mother’s voice calling us to dinner and out the door we went!
(photo taken from: https://www.kindpng.com/imgv/JTxxxh_transparent-jersey-cow-clipart-cow-and-calf-png/)
cathemyers 