The Cow-Pie Chronicles (10 page)

“Hey! What's going on down there?” Aunt Linda yelled from a second-story window. Seeing Tim and the tall boy lying on the ground, she yelled, “Don't move! We're coming right down!”

Not wanting to get into a confrontation with the adult, the tall boy's two friends quickly helped their buddy up and hauled him away. Tim did as he was told, which was okay with him. He was still confused as to what had just happened and was trying to figure things out.

When Mrs. Slinger made it outside, she saw Tim was still on the ground. She helped her son to his feet then stuffed a hanky into his nose. They headed back to the apartment, with Aunt Linda and Roxy trailing behind.

Tim sat down in the kitchen. Aunt Linda pulled out the bloody hanky and dabbed his blood-covered nose with a clean cloth. “Why did you mess with him?” she asked Tim. “He's on the boxing team.”

Tim turned and stared at Roxy.

“Sorry, I thought you could beat him,” Roxy said. “I know you're stronger.”

“Are you going to be okay, Tim?” Mom asked.

“Yeah. At least I won,” Tim said.

“How do you figure that?” Aunt Linda asked.

“I got beat up by a professional boxer. He got beat up by a little girl,” he said, pointing at Roxy. “So I win.”

Roxy and Mrs. Slinger laughed, but Aunt Linda didn't. She continued wiping the blood from Tim's face. “You've got a lot to learn about city life,” Aunt Linda said to him.

Tim watched as his aunt gave his mother a questioning look. “But we're only staying a few days,” he told his aunt.

“That's right. And not every place is like Chicago,” Tim's mom said.

Dana and Roxy's brother—Tommy—walked into the kitchen. They pushed their way in front of Aunt Linda and stared at Tim's swollen nose. “Whoa, I like Chicago!” Dana exclaimed.

Tim slumped in his chair then let out a sigh. “I wanna go home.”

“Can I come?” Roxy asked.

Aunt Linda stared at Roxy. “Why?” she asked.

“You said we have to go back and get the rest of our things before school starts. I'll go with Tim now and come back with you later.”

“You mean stay with Grandma?” Mrs. Slinger asked.

“No, stay on the farm with you.”

“Really?” Tim asked.

Aunt Linda gave Tim's mom another questioning look.

“She can stay in the spare room,” Mrs. Slinger said. “We can take her to Grandma's if she changes her mind.”

Tim and Roxy gave each other a high-five. “Yes!” they said together.

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Chapter 12

The long ride home was much more enjoyable with Roxy in the car. She chattered endlessly, and the three kids played travel games and exchanged stories about summer adventures. But Tim was a little concerned about her spending an entire week on the farm.

Roxy wasn't used to farm life. Usually, his cousin visited for a few hours during the day, but she had never spent the night. And Tim knew Roxy had an especially difficult time with certain animals.

“Are you going to go out into the fields with us?” Tim asked Roxy.

Roxy gave him an arrogant little smirk. “Why wouldn't I?”

“Ah, no reason. But if you do, we need to talk about animal safety first,” Tim said.

“Good idea,” Mom said from the front seat.

“Give me a break. I'm not going to hurt any of your animals,” Roxy said.

“That's not what I'm worried about,” Tim said.

Roxy stared at Tim, who now wore a serious look on his face. “You mean they might hurt me?”

“Maybe. We have all kinds of animals around our farm. Some are pretty friendly, some are ugly and most are harmless. But there are a few we stay as far away from as we can,” Tim said.

“Like stray dogs,” Dana said.

“And skunks,” Tim said.

“And rats,” Mr. Slinger, who was driving, said.

Roxy's eyes opened wide as she leaned forward in her seat to talk with her uncle. “Rats! You have rats on your farm?” she asked Mr. Slinger. All he could do was smile and nod his head “yes.”

“Don't worry, Roxy. Dad says we have rats, but I've never seen one. Just field mice,” Tim said.

“The rats hide under the barn,” Dad said, continuing his warning. “They don't come out during the day. They prefer to come out at night.” Mom gave her husband a little swat on the arm for teasing his niece.

Roxy shook her head then took a deep breath as she sat back in her seat. “Rats, stray dogs, skunks—anything else I should watch for? Like vampires? Maybe they come out at night with the rats,” Roxy said.

“There are bats. Is that close enough to vampires?” Dana asked. Roxy made a face at her.

“Just keep it simple. If Tim says ‘run,' you run. And fast. No questions asked,” Mr. Slinger said.

“
Great. I'm spending a week in
Wild
Kingdom
!” Roxy said.

Tim figured he should stop talking before Roxy changed her mind about staying with them. But there was one more animal he had to bring up. “So, how do you feel about snakes, Roxy?” he asked.

“Oh, my God!” Roxy said. She then closed her eyes and slid down into her seat.

Tim decided that it wasn't a good time to warn Roxy about the blue racer. While most people have never heard of the snake, it can be one of the scariest animals on a farm. Found in the upper Midwest, the snake is black, not blue. It isn't poisonous, but it does have sharp teeth and will bite. And if it's a really big blue racer—some can grow as long as five feet—its bite can put a child in the hospital.

The snake is an especially
intimidating
creature to run across in the wild. It normally cruises through pastures with its head sticking up above the grass like a
periscope
. But despite its racy name, a blue racer is easy to outrun, considering it doesn't care to chase anything that is too big to eat.

Like many reptiles, blue racers hang around rock piles at night through the early morning to absorb the heat stored in the piles. Farms always have rock piles and usually more than one. The main rock pile on the Slinger's farm was located near a huge pear tree at the back of the hay field.

The morning after Roxy arrived, it was made clear to Tim that he wasn't going to be able to skip chores for a week just because he had company. His mom walked into the kitchen and set a large wooden basket on the table.

“We need some fresh fruit,” she said to the three kids.

“Let's get some pears,” Dana said.

“I meant apples for a pie,” Mom said.

Roxy frowned as she picked up the basket. “I love pears.”

“They're perfect right now,” Tim said to his mom.

“Okay, pick some pears first then get the apples,” Mom said.

Roxy, Tim and Dana strolled through the knee-high alfalfa field toward the pear tree. They took their time, swatting at bugs and stopping to look at butterflies. When they reached the tree, they could see the green lumps of fruit hanging from the branches—most of the pears were out of their reach.

“Pears are supposed to be yellow,” Roxy said.

Tim studied the branches looking for the best ones. “They're better green.” Actually, Tim didn't know if yellow pears tasted better because he had never eaten one. Fruit rarely survived long enough on the farm to become ripe.

Because the bigger pears were so high up in the tree, they decided that one of them would climb up onto the rock pile to reach the fruit.

“I'll go. You hold the basket and be the lookout,” Tim said to Dana. Since she wasn't tall enough to reach anything, Dana agreed. But Roxy followed Tim up the rock pile without giving a second thought as to why they needed a lookout.

Just as Tim reached up for the first pear, Dana yelled, “Blue racer!” She took off running. Tim scrambled off the rock pile and quickly caught up to her, leaving Roxy standing on the rock pile, alone and confused. Suddenly realizing she might also be in danger, Roxy took off after them.

“Where are you going?!” Roxy called, trying to catch up to her cousins.

“Blue racer!” Dana yelled again.

Dana and Tim stopped, figuring they were far enough away from the rock pile to be safe. They knew a blue racer wouldn't chase them unless it thought they were attacking it.

Roxy finally reached them and was out of breath. “What . . . kind of game . . . is ‘blue racer'?” she asked between gasps.

“It's not a game. It's a thing,” Tim said.

“What . . . thing?” she asked.

Dana pointed toward a black head with beady eyes moving swiftly through the grass in front of the rock pile. “That thing! Run!”

Roxy screamed and took off running for the barn faster than Tim had ever seen her run. The snake must have been startled by Roxy's scream because it took off in the opposite direction.

“Where's she going?” Dana asked.

“To tell Mom she saw a blue racer, I guess.”

“What's so special about that?” Dana asked.

“I don't know. Maybe she never saw one before. Looks like it's gone now. Want a pear?”

“Yeah!” Dana said. Tim and Dana walked back to the tree to fill the basket with the biggest pears they could reach.

By the time Tim and Dana got back to the house with the pears, Roxy was in the kitchen, emptying a basket of red apples into a large pan.

“Where's Mom?” Tim asked.

“I don't know. She wasn't around, so I went out in the backyard and picked the apples she wanted,” Roxy said.

Tim set the basket of pears on the table next to the pan full of apples. He was a little concerned that Roxy was being too quiet. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Roxy set the empty apple basket on the floor, stood up, brushed her hair back with one hand and looked at Tim. “Yes. Now we're even.”

Tim stared at her for a moment, a little confused. “What'd you mean?”

“I got you beat up. You left me alone with a killer snake,” Roxy said.

Wanting to apologize, Tim picked out the biggest pear he could find in the basket and held it out to Roxy. “Want this one?”

Roxy took it then smiled. “Sure. I never tried a green one before.”

Just then, Mr. Slinger stuck his head inside the back door. “Milking time,” he said.

“Want to help me with my chores in the barn?” Tim asked Roxy.

“Doing what?” Roxy asked.

“He's a Poop Slinger,” Dana said.

“Shut up, Dee-Dee.”

“I think I'll pass. I've had enough excitement for one day,” Roxy said.

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Chapter 13