I'm a Lone Cow

My balcony, my patio or my deck, they all have magic. I’ve lived in many places
and they are the best rooms of any house or apartment. They are where it all happens.

We live in a second floor apartment now. Ginny and I sit on our balcony
overlooking a pasture with forty head of cattle. We watch the hawks, ospreys, the
occasional fox and heron searching for food in the irrigation canal or fields, but mostly
we watch the cows. They’re quite entertaining. The young calves play like kittens as they
run about the trodden grass, butting or chasing each other around.

One evening, the cows were all on the far left side of the pasture. A few stood
cooling themselves in the refreshing waters of the canal. One cow broke from the herd
and headed past our balcony toward the right side of the pasture. She strolled slowly
along, in no hurry to reach the other side.

A cow that had been close to her, looked up, saw her plodding away and
followed. Another followed that one. More and more cows noticed the others leaving and
they too joined the slow migration.

It a matter of minutes, it became a small stampede, as the rest of the herd joined
the bovine parade. Those left behind, rushed to catch up. The calves ran while the older
cows did a hurried walk, kicking up clouds of dust.

Fifteen minutes later, the herd grazed quietly on the far right of the pasture. What
made one cow decide to move and the rest to follow remains a mystery. I first thought the
farmer had a way of calling them, but that wasn’t so.

On the far left, where the action all began, one cow remained. It calmly munched
the grass without concern for the others. It was content with the grass on her side of the
field.

I thought to myself, I’m like that cow. I’ve never been one to follow the crowd. I
was mostly a loner and did what I felt like and not what the rest did. I’m independent. I’m
my own person. I’m the lone cow.

Michael T. Smith

Story ID:	7475
Written by:	Michael Timothy Smith (bio, link, contact, other stories)
Story type:	Musings, Essays and Such
Location:	Caldwell Idaho USA
Year:	2011
Person:	Lone Cow