The Cow-Pie Chronicles (9 page)

“She likes you,” Dana said.

“Maybe this will be fun,” Tim said.

He lifted his foot up to dangle the shoelace in front of Bell and Dana sat down in the grass. Both kids played in the yard all day with their new pet. Close to suppertime, Bell crawled into Tim's lap and instantly fell asleep. He put his hand on the warm ball of fur and felt the tiny heart beating inside.

“You know why Mom did this, right?” Tim asked.

“So we can practice taking care of a baby,” Dana said.

“Yeah, but I don't get it. I don't think we'll be taking Mom's baby out in the yard to pee.” Both laughed out loud at Tim's silly joke.

“Better take her back inside.” Dana said.

Dana followed Tim as he carried Bell back into the house. They found Mom sitting at the kitchen table.

“Where should we put her?” Dana asked.

“Her food, water dish and bed are next to the stove,” Mom said. She pointed to a small wicker basket with a blanket in it.

“Why is Dad's old alarm clock in her bed?” Tim asked.

“When you put the clock under the blanket, the ticking sounds like her mother's heartbeat. It makes her feel safe,” Mom said.

“Did you put a clock in my bed when I was a baby?” Dana asked.

“No, but when you were crying, your father would lay you on his chest so you could hear his heartbeat and you would stop crying almost instantly.”

“What about me?” Tim asked.

“You slept like a rock from day one, except when you were hungry,” Mom said.

Tim laid Bell in her bed then tucked the clock under the blanket. It was one of those big, yellow wind-up clocks with two bells on the top. Tim could hear it ticking all the way from the living room. He figured his mom was right because Bell was still sleeping peacefully when they all went to bed.

But there was one flaw in the alarm clock plan. That alarm clock was an old one Dad had used to wake him up at 4:30 every morning to go milk the cows. When Tim set it in the basket, he must have accidently set the alarm button, because, when 4:30 came, the bells went off like a fire alarm and Bell jumped right out of the basket. Howling loudly, Bell was so scared she took off running, not stopping until she was upstairs on Tim's bed. She tunneled underneath the covers and wouldn't come out.

“Where is she?” Dana asked when she came into Tim's room. The surprise alarm had woken her up, too.

Tim pulled back his bed covers until Bell's head was sticking out. She was still shivering with fear.

Dana reached out to pet Bell on the head. “Poor baby.”

Mom came in. “Sorry,” she said.

“Will your baby sleep with the clock?” Tim asked.

“No. Trust me, our baby will wake up in the middle of the night without a clock. And so you both know, there will be extra chores when the new baby comes, too,” Mom said.

“Okay, we'll help. Tell Dad I'm going to work real hard on learning to drive the tractor,” Tim said.

Dad entered Tim's room, holding a hot cup of coffee. “What about the tractor?” he asked.

“I need to learn to drive it pretty soon so Mom can take care of her baby.”

“You don't need to worry about the tractor right now,” Dad said.

“Go back to sleep,” Mom said.

Tim's parents headed downstairs, but Dana stayed behind long enough to get one more dig in on Tim. “Told ya,” she said.

“Get out of my room,” Tim ordered.

And she did, leaving Tim alone with the puppy curled up next to him. He reached down and pulled Bell out, placing her on top of the covers next to him. Bell sat up and stared at him, panting, with her little pink tongue sticking out of her mouth.

“What's happening to us, Bell?” Tim asked.

Bell yawned, lay down and closed her eyes. Tim tried to go back to sleep, but it was hopeless. Bell never slept in the kitchen again, but in Tim's bed every night. And Bell wouldn't eat at all until her food dish was moved to the other side of the kitchen.

Dana and Tim worked out an acceptable plan for puppy duties. But deep down inside, Tim was worried about the future, as Dad had canceled his tractor-driving lessons until further notice.

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Chapter 11

Tim and Dana were allowed to sleep in that morning, which was unusual on a farm, since most chores couldn't wait. But the alarm-clock incident had woken them up so early, their parents decided it best that they get some extra rest.

Mom had a late breakfast ready when they got up. “Guess what?” she said when she saw them come into the kitchen.

“I can't handle any more surprises right now,” Tim said.

“So you don't want to go to Chicago to visit Roxy?”

“I wanna go!” Dana said.

“They moved already?” Tim asked.

“Yes. Aunt Linda wants us to come see their new apartment. She says Roxy misses you both a lot.”

“When are we going?” Dana asked.

“Friday. We need to go while I can still travel comfortably. Uncle Jack is going to take care of the farm for a few days.”

On the day of their road trip to Chicago, Dana and Tim were excited. But that excitement lasted for only the first hour. They still had three more hours of driving to go. All Tim wanted to do was escape from the family's hot, bumpy, noisy vehicle. He missed being outside.

Then the city of Chicago came into view. Tim thought their barn was huge, but the skyscrapers made their barn look like a
Tinker
Toy
.

“How many kids did you say live in Roxy's apartment building?” Tim asked.

“I don't know about kids, but there are hundreds of families living there. More than in our whole town,” Mom said.

“Where do they hunt?” Tim asked.

“You can't hunt in Chicago,” Dad said.

Tim frowned as the scenery turned into office buildings, factories and parking lots. “Where do they build hay forts?” he asked.

“No hay in Chicago,” Dad answered.

Dana leaned forward to get a better view of a large school with a concrete playground next to the highway. “What do they feed the cows?” she asked.

“No cows,” Mom said.

Tim tried to spot one thing that looked familiar as they passed a few more buildings, but it was hopeless. “What
do
they have?” he asked.

“People. Lots and lots of people,” Mom said.

“Little girls, too?” Dana asked.

“Yes, lots of little girls, too,” Mom said.

Tim stared out the window as the highway became more and more crowded with cars. “Poor Roxy must hate it here,” he said.

Dad turned the family car onto a narrow road that wove between row after row of huge apartment buildings. “Almost there,” he said. Tim could see groups of kids on the grassy lawns between the buildings and saw a playground with mostly little kids playing on swings and monkey bars. None of them looked very excited, but they sure had nice clothes.

Tim's dad finally pulled the car up in front of one of the apartment buildings and stopped. Aunt Linda and Roxy came out of the entrance of the building, waving and smiling.

“I missed you so much,” Roxy said, giving Tim a big hug. “We're going to have a lot of fun.”

“Doing what?” Tim asked.

“Meeting my friends,” she said.

She took Tim's hand and pulled him into her apartment. The first order of business was giving the visitors food and drink. Then Tim went with Roxy to her room and they listened to some of her growing record collection—it was filled with music from the hottest rock-and-roll bands. One of bands was called “The Beatles” and they were from England. Tim didn't know beetles could sing and play guitar.

“Want to dance?” Roxy asked.

“Dance?” Tim asked.

The scared look on Tim's face must have given Roxy a clue that her cousin was drifting alone in an alien world, very much in need of help. “Never mind,” she said, realizing Tim felt out of place. “Hey! I need you to help me with something. Come on.”

Roxy grabbed Tim's hand again and pulled him out of the apartment and into the courtyard. Tim was very uncomfortable with Roxy's actions, as he was always the one in charge whenever Roxy came to visit him on the farm.

“See those three boys over there?” she asked, pointing.

“Yeah.”

“The tall one is always picking on me. Can you make him stop?”

Tim instantly felt better knowing that Roxy needed him. “No problem,” he said.

* * *

Roxy had complete faith in Tim's ability to defend her—he had protected her from 1,000-pound cattle, stray dogs, collapsing hay forts and electric fences. Tim had also been defending himself from bigger kids on the bus ride home from school almost daily for years. He could wrestle with the best of them. Farm kids didn't fight with their fists, because they needed to keep their hands healthy to do chores. Trying to grip a shovel to move manure with banged-up knuckles was no fun at all. So they wrestled instead. That was the unspoken rule when farm boys fought.

As Tim approached the group, he thought about what he was going to say to the tall boy.
It'll be okay. How tough could city kids be, anyway?
He also thought about how to take him down with his favorite wrestling move.

But Roxy was not one to leave things to chance. She sprinted past Tim and went up to the tall boy, punched him, and then took off running again. The stunned boy went after Roxy, but stopped when Tim stepped in front of him. “Leave her alone!” Tim said.

Pow!
Tim was flat on his back, nose bleeding, dazed, wondering what had hit him. Then the tall boy jumped on top of him, clenching his fist for another blow. Tim was too stunned to do anything, but Roxy was not about to leave Tim defenseless. She ran up behind the stooped-over boy and planted a vicious kick to his private area. The boy flew over Tim's head, landing on the ground with a
thud
. He was screaming in pain.