This particular story happened in the midst of a Midwestern prairie where there stood a jewel of a town. On the outskirts of this little farming community there lived a couple whose life was blessed with all that one could ask for. Jacob, with his earth stained hands, returned home every evening to the company of his wife Mary and their five children.
One day a particular fly entered this farmer’s tea one too many times. You see, his neighbor Earl was in the habit of checking his fences only about once a year. Even at that, Earl’s best effort consisted of propping up a single strand of rust stained barb wire with a stick saying, “That will turn ‘em.”
Well, Jacob decided that this was the last time Earl’s bull, Boss, would trample over his prize winning taters. So Jacob and his eldest son John took to chasin’ after this animal with a couple of lassos made out of whatever pieces of rope they had managed to cobble together.
By some miracle only known to God, they managed to get one of the ropes around Boss’ neck. John yelped in complete and utter surprise, “What are we gonna do now?” Well, Jacob had been scheming all this time and had a plan. He hurried off, leaving John to tend the beast in his absence, and came back driving his weather-beaten Ford pickup truck.
On the front of the truck Jacob had affixed a worn out pitch fork that was missing the handle. John stood in disbelief as he watched his pa tie the ropes which were around Boss’ neck to the bumper; one on each corner. Jacob hopped in the truck and hollered to John, “Get in, boy!”
When that ol’ Ford fired up, Boss - who up until this point had been nearly asleep - perked up and turned his head around with the most peculiar expression. Jacob slowly let out the clutch and eased forward, prodding him all the way back home to Earl.
The sun was about to set when Jacob and John returned home, just in time to join Mary and the other children for supper. As the light slowly slipped away from the horizon, the silhouette of a bull could be seen gazing across a fence - looking away from Jacob’s place…. Far, far away.
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No generative artificial intelligence (AI) was used in the writing of this work.
