The Love Cow

By Jeff Eblen

It was in the middle of June.
A row of cars stopped on the freeway...

Passing precious time...

The smoldering heat blankets the street
Forcing windows to be rolled up or down.
And a mist of vapors drifts from the cars,
To produce an unpenetratable fog.

"It's really hot," says Anne
Who sits next to me in my very stationary vehicle.

"Yeah," I agree although my mind is...
Somewhere else...

Out of the fog
In between two stopped cars
On the freeway
Comes a cow... a black and white spotted cow.
At first I think, "Weird."
Then I think, "What a bad cow."
"Bad cow! Bad cow! Go home!"
Then I think "Weird" again.
I look over to my traveling partner.
My friend's roommate who seems...
Friendly, nice, and real pretty.

She smiles at me and says, "What?"
I start to say, "Can't you see the cow?!"
But barring the idea of her thinking I'm weird,
I say nothing and return looking at the cow.

The cow has gotten closer.
And I can see it chewing something...
...cud maybe?
The cow comes up to my window,
(Slow, you know, how cows can be slow)
He looks at me through the window,
(I start to get nervous)
He looks over to Anne,
(I've never had a cow so close to my...)
He then licked my window.

Then everything made since.
That was the Love Cow!
The one that walks around and licks when love is shared!
The Love Cow licked my window!
The cupid amongst the animal kingdom licked my window!

I knew then that I needed to get Anne a ring and marry her.
Because the Love Cow kissed my window.
Wow.