The Weeping Willow Tree

By Barbara Pratta

Most of Shorty's time was spent galloping through fields and jumping fences. That was the only world he knew and he was quite content with it.

Then a tragic accident happened, leaving him lame and scarred, which turned his world upside down. Abandoned, he was left outside, cold and hungry, feeling sad and lonely. He endured a heartbreaking and abusive life until it got to the point where he didn't want to continue this life he was living any more.

It was at that point when a strange man came and rescued Shorty and took him to a home of a family with children who loved him and thought he was beautiful, regardless of his scars and lame leg. His life would now be filled with all kinds of friends, of love, laughter, sadness and tears. This is the story about Shorty's life on the farm.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 11, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463407674

Barbara Pratta

Barbara grew up with her five brothers and sisters on a farm with a lot of animals. After many decades of talking about the experiences she had through her childhood memories, she decided to write stories around them through the eyes of the animals. This is her first novel.

Book preview

© 2011. Barbara Pratta All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 7/7/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0763-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0762-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0767-4 (e)

Shorty and the Weeping Willow Tree

Registration Number

Txu 1-627-810

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011908614

Certificate has been issued under the seal of the Copyright Office in accordance with title 17, United States Code, attests that registration has been made for the work of Barbara Pratta,

author of Shorty and the Weeping Willow Tree.

Information on the certificate has been made a part of the Copyright Office Records.

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

To my Mom and Dad.

Because of them, I got to grow up on a farm with five brothers and sisters. They were strict, making us well mannered and well behaved, but they had a sense of humor about them that made just about everything appear funny, therefore, lots of giggles. We were a loving family that worked hard together, played rough together and laughed a lot together. Plus we got the chance to grow up on a farm with lots of animals.

Thank you Mom and Dad. I love you.

To my Husband, Rod.

A special thanks for being supportive of me through the years of me writing my book.

For encouraging me and making me believe I could finish it.

You know how much I love you Honey.

And to Al Ciuffetelli.

You took the time to help me with everything I needed to know to make my stories into a

book that I can share with others.

Thank you, Al. You’re a wonderful friend.

Contents

Chapter one

Chapter two

Chapter three

Chapter four

Chapter five

Chapter six

Chapter seven

Chapter eight

Chapter nine

Chapter ten

Chapter eleven

Chapter twelve

Chapter thirteen

Chapter fourteen

Chapter fifteen

img044.jpg

Chapter one

My owner would always ride me through this field that had a triple barbed wire fence going through the middle of it. I always thought it was such a thrill to gallop as fast as I could toward that fence and jump over it. My owner and I have jumped over that fence hundreds of times with such ease. It was our favorite thing to do.

It was October 1, 1956. A day I will never forget. One that changed my life forever. Even though the day was cold, it was sunny and dry which made it a perfect day to get a good run in.

We were galloping as fast as we could toward the fence getting ready to jump, when a groundhog darted in front of me and startled me. My front legs made it over the fence alright, but my hind legs got tangled in the wire. I had pulled the wire down so hard that the two fence posts on each side of me were pulled out of the ground. My owner managed to jump off before I landed on the ground.

Somehow my left hind leg got tangled between the triple barbed wires, which were cutting into me. I was struggling to get up but the more I tried, the deeper the wire would cut into my leg. My owner tried to calm me down so he could pull the wire out of my leg, but each time he pulled I felt like screaming, the pain was tremendous. It seemed like it took forever when he finally freed me from the wires. As I stood up, I felt blood running down my leg.

I was holding my left leg up while my owner walked me through the field and back to the barn. He called the Veterinarian, then got a bucket of water and some rags to wash my leg down. How could this happen, I wondered? I had jumped that fence hundreds of times before with such ease. I just could not believe this had happened to me.

When the Veterinarian came, he saw how much pain I was in and right away gave me a needle which contained a sedative to numb my pain. As he was washing my leg with a sanitary solution, my owner asked him the question I did not even want to think about. Is his leg broken?

My heart went into my throat because if my leg was broken, that would have been the end of me. No, it can’t be, I thought, I was too young, still full of life and I wasn’t ready to go yet. The Veterinarian looked up at him and said, No, his leg isn’t broken. Whew!! Not broken. I sure was glad to hear him say those words. Then he proceeded to say to my owner, But he does have a really deep cut in this leg. It looks like his tendon got cut. My owner looked at him. "Will he be okay?"

Oh, he’ll heal just fine, but he will have a slight limp. Oh no, I thought, me limping? Does that mean no more jumping, no more galloping, what does it mean? The things going through my mind were making me crazy. I could feel the Veterinarian sewing stitches into my leg. I turned my head to look and saw that I was going to have some very bad scars. He gave my owner some fresh dressings and antibiotics to prevent any infection.

Two weeks later, I was healing, but I could not lower my left hind leg. I actually held it up off the ground at all times because I just couldn’t get it to straighten out. My pain had subsided a lot and I felt much better. My owner had come to the barn to check me out only a few times. He had changed since the accident, acting cold and distant toward me. Not talking to me or trying to make me feel better, giving me a feeling he didn’t care for me anymore. I didn’t understand this because it had only been the two of us since I can remember. He had no family, no other pets, just he and I and we were like best friends, or at least I thought we were. That was why what happened next just broke my heart.

My owner put a rope onto my halter and led me away from my cozy little barn into this small fenced in area that had no shelter, not saying a word to me the whole time. Can you imagine how I felt when he just closed the gate behind him and walked away, not even looking back? To make me feel even worse, I watched as he brought home another horse and put him in the barn.

I watched as my owner and the new horse would gallop through the field I use to gallop and jump the fence I use to jump. There I was, confined in this tiny area, feeling like a prisoner that was being punished for having a limp. When it would rain or snow, I would stand there with no shelter, looking across the field in the barn to see the new horse dry and comfortable. I kept thinking to myself, I don’t deserve this! I’m a good horse! I came to realize that my owner never cared for me, he only cared about riding a horse that could run and jump. I felt very hurt and very lonely.

It’s April first, six months after the accident and I have survived the winter months. I still couldn’t straighten my leg, but at least I wasn’t in pain anymore. It was a beautiful spring day and even though it was cool, the sun was bright and felt warm on my back. I thought how nice it would be to get a good run in and wasn’t sure if I could run anyway, because of my leg. I was confined in such a small area it was just about impossible to walk around, let alone run. I wondered what was to become of me. I couldn’t live like this much longer. My water was never fresh, my hay was always dirty, and I barely got fed. It was like my owner had forgotten I was there. This was no way to live, something had to change. Please!

As I was standing there thinking of all these terrible things I noticed a pick up truck, pulling a shiny silver trailer, come up the lane and park next to the barn. A man I had never seen before got out of the truck to greet my owner and as the two of them were talking they were looking my way. Then they walked toward me and the strange man came right up to my face.

He gently put his hands on each side of my face and looked into my eyes. Then he bent down to check my left hind leg, which made me feel so self-conscious because I knew I had some nasty scars there. He looked at my other three legs then, as he looked into my eyes again, I looked back, and I don’t know what it was about him, but he had a way of making me feel at peace with myself.

I noticed he was fairly young, I would say mid twenties, medium height and had black wavy hair, a very handsome man. He looked around at my living conditions shaking his head with discontent and I don’t think my owner appreciated the man’s opinion of how I had been treated. My owner put a rope on my halter, handed it to the stranger, who took hold of the rope and led me away from my little area, walking me toward the shiny silver trailer. I tried not to limp, so I didn’t use my bad leg, holding it up and only using my three good legs, which actually seemed to be quite smooth. He led me up the ramp into the trailer and tied ropes that were attached to each side of the trailer to each side of my halter. I figured this was a way to keep me secure, then he pulled the ramp onto the trailer and closed the door behind me.

This was my first time ever being in a trailer. There was a small window in front above me, and even though light was coming through, it still seemed dark in there. There were vents on each side, letting air in. It was quiet for a few minutes, then I heard the engine start and felt the trailer moving.

As we were moving, I was thinking about my owner, Did he just give me away? He hadn’t even said goodbye. I wondered where this strange man was taking me and felt it had to be a better place than the place I just left. I could hear the traffic on the road and whenever a big truck passed by, it would startle me. It seemed like we were driving forever, when suddenly the ride became very bumpy, I could tell we had driven off the hardtop road onto a dirt lane because I could see the dust flying by the air vents, which made me think we were getting close. I was becoming very anxious and then started thinking; What would this young man want with me, a horse with only three good legs? Then I thought maybe he felt sorry for me, whatever the reason, I hoped it to be a good one.

It seemed like we had been riding on this dirt lane forever, which made me think it must have been a very long lane. The longer we drove, the more anxious I became. Finally we slowed down and stopped, it was quiet and my heart was racing. Okay, I said to myself, I hope I’m going to like where I am. Then all of a sudden, I heard a huge ruckus going on outside, I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect. The door behind me opened, the stranger pulled the ramp down, walked around up to my face and untied the ropes from my halter. He looked in my eyes, scratched my head and said in a gentle voice, Come on boy, I want to welcome you to your new family and home.

Well, what can I say? When he said those words the way he did, it just melted my heart right down. As he backed me down the ramp, I heard all these children in awe of me. Why, I had barely gotten my feet onto the ground before they were all over me with oohs and aahs. I had to admit, it was a bit overwhelming, but I stayed calm. I could tell I their very first horse.

* * *

Before we go on any further let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Shorty. I’m a Chestnut gelding Quarter horse and when I say Quarter horse, that doesn’t mean I’m a quarter the size of anything, it means I can run quarter mile races and win! That’s why we’re called Quarter horses. I have white down the front of my face, and my mane, tail and feet are darker than the rest of me. I stand fifteen hands high, which is sixty inches and is an average height for horses. I’m five years old, that’s pretty young..considering a horse can live to be thirty. I’m as gentle as a baby and love children. Now I understand why my new owner purchased me, he has six children. Amongst the children was a dog. A dog, I thought, I didn’t know much about dogs. We never had one where I use to live, though I had seen them before. My previous owner had friends that would bring their dogs with them when they visited, and none of them were friendly. Some of them were really mean.

As the children were checking me out, I was checking the dog out! Not knowing what to expect, I was a little leery of him. He was white with black spots, he looked up at me, wagging his tail. Hi, my name is Petey and I’m a purebred Dalmatian dog, he said, swelling his chest out like he was proud of it. I looked down at him and said, Hello, my name is Shorty. I wanted to say I was a purebred Quarter horse, but I wasn’t sure if Quarter horses were purebreds. Then he proceeded to say, Welcome to your new family and home, Shorty, I know everything is strange to you right now but when you get settled in, you are going to love it here.

Thank you, I said, and surprisingly thought how Petey actually made me feel comfortable around him, he was very nice.

By this time these six kids were all over me, hugging and kissing me, my new owner was their Dad. He led me to this concrete building that had a rail around the front, this was their saddle shop. Dad tied the rope that was hooked to my halter to the rail, went inside the saddle shop and came out with a bridle, blanket and saddle, as he proceeded to put them on me, Petey sat there and watched. If you would like, Shorty, I can help you get acquainted with the family and tell you a little bit about them, he said.

I looked at all the kids and figured I needed all the help I could get, so I looked at Petey with appreciation and said, Thank you Petey, I think I’m going to need it.

Petey chuckled and replied, Yeah, I think so too.

As Dad was saddling me up, all the kids were petting me, telling me how beautiful I was and Mom was standing next to her children, agreeing with them. Can you imagine? Here I am with scars on my leg and they think I’m beautiful!

Dad picked the youngest of the children up first and sat him onto the saddle. This one is Danny, said Petey. He’s five years old and is always willing to get into some kind of adventure if he can. He had black hair with black eyes and his skin was very tan in color. He held onto the saddle horn while Dad walked me toward the back of their house, which was about thirty feet from the saddle shop.

I noticed the back of the house was L-shaped and had a closed-in wooden porch with no door in the doorway. I could see inside the porch and noticed some cats lying around in there washing themselves, as we passed the porch I saw there was a big tree with three swings tied to a big branch, one was a tire, the other two had wooden seats and there was a ladder going up the tree. Next to the tree sat a sandbox and a seesaw, then when we walked around to the front of the house, I noticed it was a three story house with steps to the front door and no porch, which to me, made it look like a big white box. We walked around to the other side of the house and back to the saddle shop.

All the kids were waiting in line, anxious to ride me and I noticed Mom standing next to her children keeping a leery eye on me, which reminded me of a mother hen watching over her chicks. Dad put Danny down, brought up a girl that had a round face, black eyes and black curly hair, so curly it looked like springs. This is Holly, said Petey. She’s six years old and is spunky for her age, always quick to let you know what she thinks.

She grabbed onto the saddle horn while Dad walked me around the house again. Petey was walking with me the whole time, telling me how much I was going to love it here. Then Dad helped the next boy up and said, This one is Tony, the strong one in the family, he’s seven years old and works very hard on the farm. He also is very adventurous and finds amusement in just about everything. I noticed he had brown hair and hazel eyes. We walked around the house again.

Now when the next girl came up, she surprised me by automatically pulling herself up onto the saddle with little help from Dad. Who is this one? I asked.

This is Sandy, said Petey. She is eight years old, has a stubborn streak and is the tomboy in the family.

I looked at Petey and said, I can feel she belongs on a horse, not that she can ride just yet, but the passion I feel from her makes me believe she’s going to be a great rider. She had light fluffy blonde hair with brown eyes, and is the only one in the family with blonde hair. We walked around the house again.

When the next boy got up, Petey said, This is Pat, he’s nine years old, is a hard worker, takes his work seriously, making sure his work is done to perfection and making sure everyone else does their chores also. I noticed he had a round face, big black round eyes and black curly hair. We walked around the house, again!

Finally the last child got up on the saddle. This is Brenda, she’s ten years old and is the clown in the family. She loves to make people laugh and has such a great passion for animals of all kinds, said Petey. I noticed she had straight brown hair with bangs and eyes that were light in color that slanted up when she smiled. We walked around the house, again!

Mom had been watching me the whole time while her children were taking turns riding me. At first I could see she was uneasy about it, but as each child rode me, she started to realize how gentle I was with her children and came to trust me. I noticed she had long black curly hair, dark brown eyes, a round face and a very curvy figure. She looked Hawaiian and was very beautiful. She was reluctant, but Dad talked her into taking a turn to ride me.

Dad had just put Mom’s foot into the stirrup and started to push her up onto the saddle when she started to giggle. Petey chuckled as he looked at me and said, Mom giggles a lot, and let me tell you, her giggles are so infectious that when she starts to giggle so does everyone else. Believe me when I tell you, once the giggles start there is no stopping with the giggles. Petey was right. Everyone giggled the whole time Dad was trying to get Mom onto the saddle, when he finally got her situated, we started to walk around the house, again!

Petey proceeded to tell me about Mom. She’s twenty-six years old and thinks everything is funny. She’s an awesome cook and has a green thumb, everything she plants just flourishes. I’m just waiting for her to plant a Weeping Willow tree next to the house. I looked at him in wonderment. Why? What’s a Weeping Willow tree? I asked.

It’s a tree unlike any other tree in the world, it’s tall and round with all these willowy branches hanging down almost to the ground. They flow ever so softly in the wind and when you’re sitting under it, all the willowy branches surround you, giving a feeling of being in a paradise. It’s so shady and cool.

How do you know? Have you ever seen a Weeping Willow tree? I asked.

Yes. The place I was born had a Weeping Willow tree, and I remember when I was a very young pup, I would sit under it for long periods of time, totally mesmerized by it.

As I watched Petey describing what a Weeping Willow tree was, I could see a special gleam in his eyes and sensed he would really love to have one. I’ve never seen one before, but it sounds like a very beautiful tree.

Believe me, it is, he said. At that second, Dad helped Mom out of the saddle as she was still giggling.

Okay, Dad said. It’s my turn to ride. He stepped into the stirrup and pulled himself up onto the saddle like a pro, I could tell he had experience with riding a horse. We started walking away from the house, thank goodness for that, I thought, I had enough of walking around the house.

The saddle shop was to my left, behind the saddle shop was a gate that opened up to a pasture and past the gate were two corn sheds. On my right was a chicken house, with some chickens pecking around on the ground. Past the chicken house were two large sheds with a lot of farm machinery in them. As I looked ahead, there was a big red barn with a silo and hay loft. To the left of the barn was a milk house, and it looked like there was a big building behind that. We walked toward the barn then turned right to the other side of the barn where there was this very long lane that led to the back fields. Dad gave me a slight kick and said, Come on boy, let’s get a good run in.

I started to gallop and ran as fast as I could. This was the first time I had gotten to run since my accident six months ago. I avoided using my left hind leg, galloping with my three good legs, and hoped my ride wasn’t too rough. Petey was running next to us. The lane must’ve been a mile long. As we approached the woods, we slowed down and started walking. I saw some deer running in the distance through the trees, Petey was jumping in and out of the bushes chasing birds and I could tell he was having fun, so was I. We walked up to a river when Dad got down from the saddle, rubbed my neck and said, You surprised me Shorty, you walk with a slight limp, but your gallop is real smooth. I could feel my eyes well up with tears, it meant a lot for me to hear those words from him. Then he let me drink some water from the river. Petey came up to drink from the river next to me, and as I looked up I noticed how beautiful this place was, then Dad started scratching my forehead and Petey looked up smiling at me. It was a special moment for me.

Dad got back onto the saddle, we walked through the woods back to the lane and started to gallop back up the house. As we were galloping, I thought about how wonderful it was to get a good run in. I hadn’t been able to run like this for such a long time, I couldn’t help remembering the place I was before I came here. I pictured my self being cooped up in such a small area with hardly any room to walk, let alone run. That was my past. I felt like I had a good future now and am going to appreciate every moment of it.

We were approaching the barn when we slowed down and started to walk, Petey ran ahead to the house. As we got closer to the barn, I noticed something moving, they were animals I had never seen before! They were black and white, fairly big and there must have been over a hundred of them. I was staring at them with curiosity, wondering what kind of animals they were and noticed they were staring back at me, which made me feel a little uneasy. Wishing Petey were here so I could ask him about these animals, I decided to ask him when I got back to the house.

Mom and the kids were all at the saddle shop, waiting anxiously for us to come back. Dad got down, tied my reigns to the rail and said in a stern voice. Okay kids, now it’s time for some lessons. Right away Mom said, You children pay attention to your lessons. It’s important to know how to ride Shorty properly. I have things that need to be done in the house. Then proceeded to walk toward the house.

Dad told the kids to watch as he took my bridle and saddle off and put them back on again. As Brenda, Pat, Sandy and Tony took turns taking my bridle and saddle off and putting them back on again, Dad told Holly and Danny to watch. They were so small..Heck, the four older kids had a hard time just trying to lift the saddle up over their heads to put it on my back. I stood there very patiently while the kids practiced. My bridle was upside down, then it got lopsided and was hanging over my ears. My mouthpiece was on top of my nose, and my saddle kept rolling upside down under my belly. The kids all giggled so hard the whole time they practiced, even Petey was getting a big kick out of watching. My bridle and saddle must’ve gone off and on about fifty times before they all got it right. What a project that was! Did I mind? No way! It actually made me feel good that they enjoyed me so much. I loved every minute of all the attention I was getting.

Then Dad said, Okay kids, lesson number two, now it’s time to learn how to ride Shorty.

He had the kids watch as he stepped into the stirrup and pulled himself up onto the saddle. He showed them how to loosen the reigns a bit with a slight kick to make me go and how to pull the reigns tight to make me stop. He taught them the difference between being bridle wise and not. Not being bridle wise meant you had to use both hands to steer me. You had to pull the right reign right to make me turn right and pull the left reign left to make me turn left. Being bridle wise meant you only needed one hand to steer. You simply put both reigns in one hand, lean them on the right side of my neck to make me turn left, and lean the reigns on the left side of my neck to make me turn right. It’s so much more convenient having a horse that is bridle wise, kind of like a stick shift versus an automatic on a vehicle. I have to admit, I am proud to say that I am bridle wise.

All six of the kids took turns practicing on me, always finding something to giggle about. Even so, they all were learning very fast, then Dad said, Now let’s give Shorty a break. He took my bridle, saddle and blanket off then had the kids follow him in the saddle shop to show them where they belonged and how to take care of them. Finally, a break, I thought. That would be nice. This day had gone by so fast, and I had been so busy, Wow!! Come to think of it, I was really worn out. I had done more this day than I had done in the past six months. Oh, I was by no means complaining, this had been the best day of my life.

When Dad came out, all six kids followed him with brushes in their hands and everyone started brushing me all over, all at the same time! They were giggling, hugging and kissing me. They combed my mane, giving me bangs, parting it in the middle and braiding it, giggling at every style they gave me. They braided my tail and giggled at that. When they finished, my coat was so shiny and my mane and tail were so smooth. I thought life just couldn’t get any better, then Dad said, I want you kids to consider yourselves very lucky to have a horse as gentle as Shorty. You wouldn’t be able to hang over any other horse like this, Shorty is a very special horse. My eyes started to well up with tears again, to hear Dad say that about me made me feel very special, I had never felt like this before.

Dad pulled a pocket watch out of his pocket to check the time, It’s time to go to work, everyone. I’ll put Shorty to pasture, you know what to do, he said. The four older kids and Petey ran down to the barn, while the two younger ones went in the house. Dad walked me to the gate next to the saddle shop, opened it for me to go in, then closed it behind me and said, "This is your new home Shorty, make yourself comfortable and check it out. He looked at me, scratched my head, smiled and said, You did real good today, boy. Now it’s your turn to relax." As I watched him walking toward the barn, all I could think about at that moment was how wonderful all that brushing had felt, then I realized that I was all alone. Now was a good time for me to check out my new home.

I turned around to look at the pasture. To my left was a wall that was connected to the back of the saddle shop. As I walked around it, I noticed it was an open shed backed up to the to the saddle shop with walls on each side and a roof. There was fresh straw on the floor, and it looked very cozy. As I went into the shed, I noticed the back of the saddle shop had a window, I looked inside and saw a lot of saddles, bridles, blankets and brushes that were all placed so neatly side by side. Why did he have so many, I wondered? Then I noticed an English saddle sitting next to all the Western saddles, it looked so out of place in there and thought it odd that he would have one. I was glad Dad had put a Western saddle on me instead of that English saddle. I always thought English saddles were dainty looking, unlike the Western saddle which had that rugged appeal.

I walked out of the shed and noticed a woven wired fence with squares that were approximately two inches by four inches. It was connected to the other wall from the saddle shop. I noticed an opening at the bottom of the fence big enough for Petey to walk through. The fence extended across the pasture to a corn field, and must’ve been about sixty feet wide. About half way down, a big white bathtub sat up against the fence filled with fresh water for me to drink, and two troughs had been placed against the fence between the saddle shop and the bathtub. One of the troughs was filled with oats for me to eat and the other was empty. As I looked over the fence, I noticed the back of the house was so close to me, I could see inside the porch through the doorway where some cats were sleeping. The house must’ve been only thirty feet away from me and I thought this was great! I would be here for every one to see when they went in and out of the house, I had a good feeling about my new home.

It was quiet and I was exhausted from the day, so I decided to relax in the hay. About an hour had gone by when Brenda and Sandy came up to me, hugged me and kissed me before they walked in the house. I could see their kitchen door through the back porch’s doorway and noticed Mom and the girls busy in the kitchen. Another hour went by when Dad, Pat, Tony and Petey came up from the barn, they came over, scratched my head and went in the house.

Petey came up and asked me, Well, Shorty, what do you think so far? I looked at him and smiled. You were right Petey, I am going to love it here. Then Petey said, You haven’t seen anything yet. He walked in the porch and lay down in front of the kitchen door, I stood there watching Petey and the cats on the porch when I heard some footsteps behind me. I turned around to see those strange black and white animals I had seen behind the barn earlier. My day had been so busy, I had forgotten all about them, there were so many of them. When they got closer, I realized they were huge, not as tall as me, but they were bigger. I wondered what they were doing in my pasture. Was I going to have to share my new home with these animals I know nothing about? Or were they sharing their pasture with me, the new guy? I hoped they were friendly.

I walked up to the first one in the crowd, looked into the eyes of the black and white creature and said, Hello, my name is Shorty and I’m a Chestnut gelding Quarter horse. May I ask what you are? The creature looked at me and laughed out loud then asked me sarcastically, You’ve never seen a cow before?

So this was what a cow looked like, I thought, and said defensively, I’ve heard of cows, and I know what cows are, but I never knew what one looked like.

Hey girls, she yelled out loud to the other cows, His name is Shorty and he’s never seen a cow before. They all burst out laughing.

Where have you been all your life? I thought everyone knew what a cow was! exclaimed another cow.

I didn’t say I didn’t know what a cow was, I know what a cow is! I’ve just never seen one and didn’t know what they looked like, I blurted out in a defensive tone.

Oh well, I beg your pardon, said the first cow with a snooty attitude. They were all laughing, what was so funny I wondered?

I was getting a little agitated with their attitude, but I remained calm. If I was going to have to live with these cows, I couldn’t let them think they could get to me. Then the first cow said, Well, now that you know what a cow looks like, my name is Bessie and these are my friends, Nancy and Blanche. Welcome to your new home Shorty, we hope you like it here, said Bessie as the three of them walked away, snickering.

Then two other cows walked up to me and said, Pay no attention to Bessie and her friends, they just like to tease. Hi, my name is Mabel and this is my friend Bertha.

Don’t feel bad about never seeing a cow before, said Bertha. We have never seen a horse before either.

We knew about horses, but we didn’t know what they looked like, said Mabel. Mabel and Bertha were very nice, I liked them right away.

A lot of the cows came over and introduced themselves to me, saying their names. There was Hilda, Wilma, June, April, Bella and Dawn, there were so many of them!

A little overwhelmed, I said, Slow down girls, give me some time, there are a lot of names to remember right away. They were all talking and giggling. Women, I thought, I was sharing my new home with a bunch of cackling women.

Our job here on the farm is to give milk, said Bertha. We get milked every morning at four o’clock, and every afternoon at four o’clock. We just finished our afternoon milking and decided to come around and welcome you to your new home, she told me.

Thank you, I said, I really appreciate that.

We never hang around this part of the pasture, said Mabel. We always hang around the barnyard area, so you will have your privacy here. I was glad to hear that, I guessed it wouldn’t be so bad to live with cows after all.

As we were getting acquainted with each other, I noticed in the background this extra large..no, huge, cow with gigantic horns walking toward me, I was quickly told he was not a cow, he was a bull. He got close to me and looked really scary, with his chest way out and walking like he wasn’t afraid of anything, I was a bit intimidated by him, but I didn’t want the girls to notice, so I had to act brave. As he looked in my eyes, I said, Hi, my name is Shorty.

Hello Shorty, my name is Butch. I think he could sense me being a little nervous because he quickly said, You don’t have to be afraid of me Shorty, Im fine with horses and you are welcome to share our pasture with me and the girls. As a matter of fact, we have a very large barnyard behind the barn that has a roof and three sides, if you ever want to get out of the rain, snow or even the hot sun, you are welcome to use it."

With a sigh of relief, I said, Thank you Butch, I really do appreciate it.

Butch looked at all the cows and said to me, My job here is to keep all these girls out of trouble. His chest swelled up with pride and said in a deep voice, I am their master. I noticed the cows were all batting their eyelashes at him in a flirtatious way. Then Butch got close to me and whispered, Believe me when I tell you, trying to keep these girls out of trouble is a full time job.

Alright girls, yelled Butch. We have gotten to meet Shorty, now it’s time to go back to the barnyard. As he strolled back to the barn, the cows followed him, I noticed Bessie looking back at me, then she whispered something in Nancy’s ear, looked at me again then the both of them started giggling. How rude, I thought. Have a good night, Shorty, they all said. As I watched them walking away I thought to myself how different my life is going to be, living with a bunch of cows.

I turned around to face the house and noticed Petey sitting at my fence in front of me. Getting acquainted with the girls I see, he said in a stern voice.

Some of them seem to be very friendly, I told him.

Oh, they can be nice, but they sure can be a real pain sometimes, he replied as he watched them going around the corner.

Then he quickly said, I wanted to tell you, around this time every night the family is just finishing their supper, after they eat they always bring out the food that’s left over for us to eat. No sooner had he said it that Pat came out with a pan filled with food. Then all of a sudden I witnessed something I had never seen before, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. All of these cats were jumping up, climbing up Pat’s back and jumping in the pan of food. He was having a hard time just keeping a hold on the pan as he walked to the outside corner of my pasture, next to the corn field where this big pan was for him to put the food in. By that time, all of the cats were covered with all kinds of food, it was the craziest thing I had ever seen, they acted like they were starving. I looked at Petey really surprised, he looked at me and chuckled, saying, I know they act like they never get fed, but believe me, they get fed a lot.

Why are they acting like that? I asked.

I really couldn’t tell you, they’re just crazy I guess, he said. Then he looked at the food. Mmm, looks like pork chops, milk gravy, mashed potatoes and rolls, he said as he sat there waiting patiently for the crazy cats to calm down. Aren’t you afraid the food will be all gone by the time they’re done? I asked.

No, there is always plenty of food to go around, I’ve tried eating with those crazy cats and let me tell you, they are vicious, growling and swatting you with their claws. No sir, I’ll just sit back and wait til they’re done. It didn’t take long before the cats were done, then Petey went over to the pan and picked up this huge pork chop bone with lots of meat on it, he carried it over to the other side of the porch, sat down and started to chew on it. Then he looked at me and said, Just think, if we had a Weeping Willow tree, I would be sitting under it right now, chewing on my pork chop. I think that would be just awesome.

Now, even though pork chops didn’t look a bit appetizing to me, I still couldn’t help but feel left out, but not for long. Mom, Dad and all six kids came out with treats for me, Oh My, they gave me corn on the cob, some salad with no dressing {just how I would prefer it}, carrots and homemade apple pie, talk about awesome. It was