Stanley looked up from his lunch and stared at the station wagon disappearing around the bend of County Road 12. A blur, then tail lights. Here, then gone.
“Where do they go?” he wondered. “And what do they do when they get there?” He ambled over to another patch of grass, ate it and chewed slowly.
Slowly. Everything he did, he did slowly. There was no need to be in a hurry since his life was pre-ordained. Sleep, wake up, eat, drink, sleep again. The routine was ingrained, instinctual. All within the confines of a barbed wire fence, all dictated by the careful monitoring of the owner’s master plan.
Within an hour he had worked his way to the tree by the road. So far, five cars had driven by, only one honking to get his attention. Or to scare him, he wasn’t sure. Didn’t matter, really, because he had grown immune to the screech of their horns. He looked up with another mouthful of grass, content to chew, breaking it down for consumption, when he noticed something that made his heart quicken. A tree limb had snapped off and fallen on the fence, flattening an entire section. Stanley blinked, twice, and then spit the grass back to the ground. For the first time in his life he had an option. He could leave the field and finally find out where those cars go.
And what they do when they get there.
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As he continued to chew on his meal, he also chewed on the idea of what layed before him: Freedom.
As he meandered over, slightly hesitant, he started to inspect the situation.
What if it was a trick?
What if there was some invisible fence that would just make him look like a fool?
As he took a step closer he could help but imagine the feeling of fulfilling this curiosity that had eaten away at him day after day. One step at a time he continued on through the opening of another world.
Stanley made his moove (haha) towards the fence. He was determined to finally know the secret of this mystery. Carefully stepping over the broken fence and the debris from the tree limb, Stanley was free. What a weird sensation. He stood for a moment looking down the road towards the bend of County Road 12. "What's down there?" he pondered.
Taking his first steps, his journey begins.
Stepping over the downed portion of his prison, Stanley felt himself overwhelmed. So many thoughts and emotions flooded him at once that he had trouble processing them all.
"Is this a trick? Is it safe? Maybe I will meet other like me."
He felt joy. He felt uncertainty. He felt excitement. He felt scared.
HONK! HONK!
This time the car horn screeching by him scared him half to death. No longer was he safe behind his fence. Now everything was different. He felt his fears pushing him to step back behind the fence.
This was his moment. Stanley had to decide.
Composing himself and gathering his courage, Stanley took one last look back at the farm. Rushing as if to step before he lost courage, Stanley stepped across the fence and out into the world.
Stanley decided he would head the direction he saw the cars go, North, up County Road 12. So off he headed, slowly, as a good Sounthern bull would - he did everything slowly. He walked slowly, chewed slowly and pondered things slowly too.
His thoughts were running wildly now though as he started his journey to --- well, he didn't know. All he knew was that was the way cars went and he intended to find out where they went and what they did when they got there.
As he was walking he noticed his pace was picking up speed to match the tempo of his thoughts. Before he knew it, he was actually trotting. WOW - this was new. His hooves hit the ground faster making an unusual thudding sound that began creating a really cool tempo. Bah-dump; bah-dump; bah-dump, etc.
As he was trotting along, he notice the birds were whistling a tune that matched the tempo of his hooves. This is pretty cool Daddy-O, he thought.
His hooves, the birds whistling and now crickets and frogs have joined in on the song. What a band!! What a rhythm!! Stanley quickly realized he was getting tired. As he slowed his pace the music of the birds, crickets and frogs slowed down with him.
Since he was concentrating so much on the sounds of the music he and the other critters had been making, he didn't know how far he had run. Where was he?!?! Nothing around him looked familiar in the least and he was not only tired, but hungry as well.
Stanley wandered off the roadway in search of some sweet, fresh alfalfa and something to drink. Stanley bent his head down to taste the sweet, green alfalfa but -- YUCK!! PTOOEY!!, Stanley spat out whatever that was he just bit into. It was green like alfalfa, it smelled pretty sweet, like alfalfa, but whatever this stuff was, it definately was NOT alfalfa!!
"Whoa! Why is everything in slow motiion?" he said to himself. Stanley looked again at the grass he was chewing on, it didn't look like alfalfa, but when you're hungry you're hungry. So Stanley continued to chew but everything continue to slow down too. "Oh, this is weird. I feel, well.., I feel pretty good." Stanley stared at some house in the distance. It seemed to be leaning to the left,... no, wait, it's leaning to the right. Stanley shook his head. "What's happening? And why do I have a craving for milk?" It's then that Stanley knew something was definitely not right.
As Stanley stumbled toward the house he saw what he thought was a goat- could it be out here in the middle of no where, between here and yonder that there would be a goat, wait it was a goat farm, there were thousand of goats....
Stanley made his way, slowly, to the house to get a closer look at the thousands of goats. He's never seen so many goats before. But he wondered, "Why aren't the goats moving? Are they all eating? And I don't hear them. Don't goats make noise?"
Being out of the fence has been very different for Stanley. Having the normal routine of a cow's life has it's challenges at times but this, this is so unlike anything Stanley could of ever imagined.
If Stanley could of rubbed his eyes he would of as he strained to look at what he thought were goats. But they weren't goats at all. No, Stanley was so amazed to see thousands and thousands of cars. Yes, cars! Just like the ones that travelled past the farm everyday. Stanley found them!
"Yes, this is it! This is where all those cars travel to everyday." Stanley was so excited. He almost skipped about through the cars relishing in the splender of knowing the secret that has swirled in his head for years.
Stanley was a happy cow.
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