The Small Stone
Is any ripple of water greater than another? Even a small stone makes a swell in the water It is not I that should ponder its rings and route But thank God that the stone has been cast out. - CKSharpe
Meatloaf Goes To The Fair
“M-o-o-o.” Meatloaf swished her long tail across her sweaty back. The flies b-u-z-zed as they jumped over it.
Meatloaf stopped in the middle of Echo Valley Farm’s pasture and moo'd again.
“I'm so tired. Aren't we finished exercising?” She lowered her head and stared at Max. “The flies are bugging me.”
Max, the farm's only pygmy goat, lifted his eyebrows.
“You want to look your dairy darling best at the summer fair, don't you?”
Meatloaf licked her sweaty nose, then blinked her curly eyelashes. “You know I do.”
“Then keep moving,” Max said.
The friends walked the mucky path while flies skipped Meatloaf's tail like a jump rope.
After a long day of exercising, the friends made their way back to the barn. The odors of cows and grain filled Meatloaf's nose as she plodded into the dairy barn. Her eyes roved across the pictures nailed on the barn wall. Past Echo Valley Farm Dairy Darlings smiled back at her. The cows all wore flowers and beautiful smiles.
“Someday,” said Meatloaf. “My picture will be on the barn wall. I hope Farmer Jones picks me to go to the fair this year.”
“And pigs will fly, too,” said Buttons, the barnyard meanie. “Buttercup and I are the only worthy dairy darlings in this barn. We will go to the fair. Everyone knows that but you.”
Silence filled the barn.
