A Bull… A Forest… And me…

{Spoiler Alert} This post has nothing to do with cow-tipping!  Those stories will be saved for later (?).

For someone who has always been seen as the good little girl, never the “bad girl,” I have had a lot of mischief creep up in my life. Despite not being the “doer” of the mischief, I’m always involved somehow. Some would say I was just a tag-along… those who know me better would know I”m more like the instigator whispering in the ears of those who would listen.

Today’s story, though, is about a time when I was the one was “tricked,” and had mischief made on me!

Imagine if you will – 3 “pre-teens” who were sick and tired of babysitting siblings, a giant field of amazing trees that were built for climbing, some blankets, and a beautiful fall day.

The day began with me being blindfolded and told if I wanted to be part of “the club,” I needed to be initiated. The initiation began with all of the day’s supplies – a picnic lunch, blankets, and whatever else they could find – piled into a back pack with me as the mule to carry them. Then, to ensure that I was keep completely out of sorts, they added a blindfold, so I could never find the “club house” on my own.  I was soon to discover that this secret place was a cluster of trees that were easy to climb, and tie blankets on to so we could hang dangling between the branches. I asked my friend, “Aren’t the cows in this part of the field?” But she assured me that they were kept on a different part of the farm, and that the biggest thing that would scare me here was a bunny rabbit.  “What? Are you a scaredy cat???” If I was, I couldn’t be part of the “gang.” For me, that was enough to shut me up; I wanted to be cool.

After about a 20 minute walk into the forest, we found what we were looking for, climbed up, and enjoyed the day by reading and yelling back and forth between the trees. I know what you’re thinking :pretty cool club, wish I could have joined.  But we thought it was awesome.  No parents, no baby siblings driving us crazy and best of all – no one knew where we were.

So, we’re having lunch, relaxing, chatting away. . . you know, being girls, that are cool.  Then, the Bull arrived. Yup… an angry bull – giant red horns – with flames shooting out of his nose. (I *might* be exaggerating that part, but my 10 year-old self still sees the bull chomping at the bit trying to scare the helpless little girls.)  Now remember — I had no idea where we were, except in a forest, somewhere on my friends’ family farm.  We hadn’t told the parents where we were going.  I didn’t know how to get back… and my best friend was yelling, “BE QUIET;  IF HE CAN’T HEAR US, HE WON’T HEADBUTT THE TREE AND MAKE IT FALL OVER!”  Um… you’re yelling… how is that quiet?

No one is coming to save us… No one…

Cows = Scary

The bull started attacking the poor trees – we cried – our lives were over.  We knew that no one knew where we were. We traded stories back and forth about how we were going to die, how the fire breathing bull was going to eat us alive (a few too many horror movies I think …).

And then: we saw our savior.   My best friends’ Dad came to our rescue on a giant tractor.  He plucked us out of the trees, and we were taken to the house to be properly yelled at, and sent off to my friends’ room while our parents talked about our punishment.  We had scared them and worried them; we deserved it.

Now for the funny part: They not only knew where we were… but my friends’ Dad had actually let the cows loose – then brought the tractor to a respectable distance so that he could watch us, but where we couldn’t hear or see him.  Apparently, we were never even in danger; they just wanted to teach us a lesson by scaring us half to death. We’ve been told by now that this was one of the funniest tricks her Dad had had ever pulled, watching us be afraid of a baby cow, who had no idea he was scaring us.

Yeah yeah… laugh now… but… it was scary…. then.

Filed under: Mischief Making by Tee
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