Moo

For

Karin, Mark, Pearl and Nico

with special thanks to

Pearl, Greta and Audrey

and all the

dedicated

4-H-ers

at

Aldermere Farm

and to their intrepid leader,

Heidi

The truth is, she was ornery and stubborn, wouldn't listen to
a n y b o d y,
and selfish beyond selfish, and filthy, caked with mud and dust, and moody: you'd better watch it or she'd knock you flat.

That's Zora I'm talking about. Nobody wanted anything to do with her.

Zora: that cow.

I am Reena, twelve years and two months old, formerly of a big city, a city of monuments, and people of many colors, a harlequin city

of sights and noises,

of museums and parks and music

and cockroaches and rats

and mosquitoes and crickets

and fireworks and traffic

and helicopters whopping overhead

and sirens
screaming
through the air

and that's how we lived for a time

me and my parents and brother

zzzoooooooooommmming

on the

or creeeeeping along in buses or cars

in

    
to

        
and

            
around

                    
the city

ambling through the zoo

listening to the ROARS and SCREEEEEECHES

and scrabbles and warbles

staring at the l a z y crawls

of bored animals.