©2005/2007 Starla Kaye

The orange fireball of a sun slid below the horizon. A pure black sky blanketed the farmyard. Dark, except for the ghostly trail of smoke rising from Farmer Sam’s fireplace. And the air was cool, almost cold.

An eerie night. Halloween perfect.

From her spot in the corral behind the barn, Blossom felt excitement threading through her. She loved evenings like these. Unlike the others in the herd, she found it invigorating to stay outside in the fresh night air later than they normally did. Sure, after the temperature reached a certain point she, too, was ready to slip into her favorite stall and settle in for a night of dreaming contentedly in the warm barn. Dream of sipping cool drinks from the pond and splashing around in the mud. Dream of chewing on fresh grass and dining on sinful snacks of sweet clover. Dream of Ferdinand, the love of her life.

She turned her head, staring off across the fields, toward the farm on which her beloved bullfriend lived. Of course, she couldn’t see much beyond the wood fence less than a dozen feet from her nose. But that didn’t matter. Her mind saw all that she needed to see.  She had a perfect memory of every magnificent inch of that prize Galloway bull. She knew his proud stance, the commanding tilt of his head, and the arrogant look in his expression.

Heaving a sigh, she closed her eyes. She was hot. So hot. Maybe she would just stay outside the entire night. With such wicked thoughts of Ferdinand teasing her, she’d never cool down enough to be comfortable in the barn tonight. When Elsie finally signaled the herd to head inside, Blossom would simply not go. Oh, Elsie would shoot her a glare for defying her edict to retire for the night, but Elsie was not the boss of her!

Silence. Absolute silence. A silence so loud that it had Blossom’s eyes flashing open and her heart pounding.

She squinted into the darkness. Where were the others? It was awfully dark.

Silence. Not even a cricket chirping for its mate. Not a field mice scampering in the grass. Nothing. Nada. Just silence. No hoofbeats nearby. No rumbling stomachs. No slurping tongues drinking from the water trough. Where were the others? It was too quiet.

Blood pounded in her veins. Chills snaked up her legs, danced along her spine. She didn’t like this one bit. Why hadn’t someone awakened her before they went into the barn? Darn that Elsie! Abandoning Blossom out here like this.

She inched her way along in the pitch-blackness. Assuming she didn’t fall flat on her face as she tripped over who-knew-what in the yard and made it into the barn, she was definitely going to give Elsie a piece of her mind!

Suddenly she wasn’t alone. She froze. Every hair of her hide stood on end. “Ferdinand, where the hell are you when I need you?” she bemoaned. Then she frowned. It had been her wandering thoughts of him that had her out here by herself. It was his fault. Well, she just might not speak to him for a while! Or maybe she’d give him a piece of her mind just as she planned to do with Elsie.

Breathing. Heavy breathing. Right behind her.

Giving up her cautious walk toward the barn door in the dark, Blossom quickened her steps. Her heart quickened as well. She would pay more attention next time. She would darn well be the first one into the barn next time.

Hoofbeats. Heavy hoofbeats. Right behind her.

Behind her? She stopped. Something wasn’t right. If she was alone out here, then why were there hoofbeats? A lot of hoofbeats.

Just as she started to crane her head back, the light on the side of the barn came on by the automatic timer. Although her heart skipped a beat at the suddenness of it, she looked back and spotted Elsie and the rest of the herd right behind her. A look of pure devilment played in Elsie’s eyes and was mirrored in the others’ eyes as well. The sneaky cows had played a trick on her. A Halloween trick.

Blossom whipped her head back around and attempted to walk with dignity into the barn.  She wasn’t about to let them know how scared she’d been. Stupid heifers had probably scared a good twenty pounds off her.

But she’d get even. Oh, yes, just wait until next Halloween!