The wrong rope.

By

Thea Van Doorn

The door opened and a happy voice said," hi mom I’m home", It was my little son, Jack. He, was in the kitchen no more then a minute, when all hell broke lose outside. We both rushed too the window and there we stood watching the dark gray cloud burst lose, sending down the rain in a loud roar. I looked around the back yard and my eyes caught the site of our bull. The bull was standing on his rope, looking, forlorn and pitiful the rain pouring off him like the Niagara Falls. Poor, animal, I thought he must have been hoping to get to his stall very badly.

I did not want to waken my husband; he was sleeping so peacefully after working all night. No, I could not wake him, just to put the bull inside. I decided I could lead the bull to his stall. With the help of my little son holding the barn door open, there would be no problem.

We put on our raincoats and went out to face the storm. My son went to the barn and held the doors open, while I went to face the bull. The bull seemed so thankful that someone came to get him out of the rain. He quietly followed me to the barn door. I was beginning to feel quite proud of myself, a little woman like me having such a control over a big animal like our bull. The bull must have know what I was thinking for in a minute right in front of the barn door, he started to act up and danced a jig.

The rope slipped out of my hand and with the rain splashing on my face I made a grab for what I thought to be the rope, found out soon enough as I slipped and fell that all of a sudden the rope had a tassel on the end. I was determined not to let beast get away and hung on to what was his tail. Suddenly, he stopped dancing and made for the stall in a hurry found myself being dragged over a hard, concrete step through the barn right into the stall. I let go of that stupid bull in a huff. Here, I was, with my good intentions sitting in the middle of the cow manure, madder then a hornet and with a bruised rear. The bull looked at me as ifto say what is the matter with you, he started to eat his hay.



My son’s laughter bubbled through the air. Then he said, "that was funny mom. Much funnier than when dad plays Paul Bunion with the bull in front of the barn". Now I had forgotten about that. The two of us had a good laugh. My son had really enjoyed himself. As I came close to him he wrinkled his nose, I put my arm around him and once inside I made straight for the bathroom I had to get rid of that strong smelling perfume before I reeked up the house. Therefore, into the shower it was for me.