Farm life -- Fiction; Humorous stories; Science fiction
Bright floodlights illuminated the yard and a crew of soldiers were
stringing telephone wires from the guarded front gate across the open
space to the ranch house. Beyond the new barbed wire fence, there was
an excited stir and rush for the wire as a sharp-eyed newsman spotted
Johnny and the scientist crossing the yard. The two men ignored the
shouted requests for more up-to-the-minute information as they walked
into the barn. Johnny switched on the lights.
The lowing of the two prize Guernseys in the stalls at the right of the
door changed to loud, plaintive bawling as the lights came on. Both
cows were obviously in pain from their swollen and unmilked udders.
"Seeing is believing. Doc?" Johnny asked, pointing to the cows.
"Seeing what?" Peterson snapped.
"I knew we were going to have some tall explaining to do when you
fellows took over here," Johnny said, "and, of course, I don't blame
you one bit. That was some blast Hetty set off out there."
"You don't know," Dr. Peterson murmured fearfully, "you just don't
know."
"So," Johnny continued, "I deliberately didn't milk these cows, so that
you could see for yourself that we aren't lying. Now, mind you, I don't
have the foggiest idea WHY this is happening, but I'm going to show you
at least, WHAT happened."
He picked up a pair of milk buckets from a rack beside the door and
walked towards the cow stalls, Peterson trailing. "This." Johnny said,
pointing to the larger of the two animals, "is Queenie. Her milk is
just about as fine as you can get from a champion milk producing line.
And this," he reached over and patted the flank of the other cow, "is
Sally's Cloverdale Marathon III. She's young and up to now has given
good but not spectacular quantities or qualities of milk. She's from
the same blood line as Queenie. Sally had dried up from her first calf
and we bred her again and on Wednesday she came fresh. Only it isn't
milk that she's been giving. Watch!"
Kicking a milking stool into position, he placed a bucket under
Queenie's distended bag and began squirting the rich, foaming milk into
the pail with a steady, fast and even rhythm. When he had finished, he
set the two full buckets with their thick heads of milk foam, outside
the stall and brought two more clean, empty buckets. He moved to the
side of the impatient Sally. As Peterson watched, Johnny filled the
buckets with the same, flat, oily-looking white fluid that Sally had
been producing since Wednesday. The scientist began to show mild
interest.
Johnny finished, stripped the cow, and then carried the pails out and
set them down beside the first two.
"O.K., now look them over yourself," he told Peterson.
The scientist peered into the buckets. Johnny handed him a ladle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account