Chapter 2. The Cow Rebellion, or Why They Moo at Night

Milkie - My Savior

It's been a whole week, and I'm still not back to normal - my head's still hurting. Never made it to the village doctor; just told my family I took a bad fall running from the forest fire. Made Martab promise not to tell anyone about my injury. If Dad found out what really happened, he'd probably go after the ranger himself, and I definitely don't need that drama right before heading to the city. Poor Martab though - his feet got completely torn up walking without shoes. Those makeshift bark shoes I made were pretty uncomfortable, but at least they got him home.

The worst part? Those missing cows are still nowhere to be found. Martab's dad and the owners have been searching everywhere, but nothing - like those cows just disappeared into thin air. Now everyone's arguing about it, with the owners demanding my uncle pay them back. The ranger filed an official complaint, so now the police are looking for someone to blame. I hate to say it, but something tells me those cows didn't make it out of that fire. I'm keeping that thought to myself though - maybe they got lucky, who knows?

This morning I checked myself in the mirror - the bruise was getting better but still pretty obvious. Mom asked me to take our cows to the meeting spot. No big deal, except everyone who noticed my bruise had to ask questions: "What happened to your face?" "Who hit you?" "Who did this to you?" My head was pounding from all the questions, but what can you do? Can't exactly tell people to be quiet.

"Hey, Mitarys!" my classmate Merbert called out.

"Hey! How's it going?" I called back.

"Nothing much, all good," he said.

"What brings you here?"

"My turn to watch the cows," he said with a little smile.

"How long for?"

"Two days," he held up two fingers.

"Going by yourself?"

"Who else would I go with?" he made a face.

"Well, good luck!" I stuck out my hand.

"Thanks, see you later!" he replied.

"Merbert, keep an eye on my Milkie," I pointed to our cow. "Be careful - she's pregnant."

"Don't worry, everything will be fine!" he said, sounding pretty confident.

We went our separate ways. I still had to go cut grass in our orchard for the animals. After breakfast, I sharpened my scythe. It got way sharper, and I whistled my favorite tune as I walked to our beautiful orchard. The dew on the grass reminded me of my childhood. My parents used to let me play in the wet grass in the mornings. Walking barefoot through that grass was just normal for us village kids. The morning dew was so pure and clean. It takes your breath away when you walk through it barefoot. Your feet get all soft and smooth. It feels almost magical, like you're brand new. And the birds chirping in the morning create this perfect peaceful feeling. Village nature is just amazing! It's like pure happiness from something so simple and natural. "When did I get so deep?" I snapped out of it when I heard a chainsaw from the nearby orchard.

Our village doesn't have gas lines, so everyone heats their homes with wood, though some people use kerosene stoves. Buying firewood costs a fortune - like half of Dad's paycheck. That's why we cut wood from our orchard in spring and fall, or collect it from fallen trees in the forest. Though there's less of it every year. We can buy gas tanks, but they're expensive so we only use them during certain seasons.

I had to cut enough hay to fill an entire truck. It's easy work in the morning, but after noon it gets hot and sticky. That's why all the men in the village start cutting really early. Nobody goes into someone else's orchard without permission, though sometimes you get people who think they can take whatever they want. Once, Mom caught this "clever guy" from the next village in our orchard. He saw her and got so scared he climbed up a tree like a bear, but Mom didn't hesitate - she grabbed a long stick and hit him so hard he couldn't sit properly for a week. My mom's pretty tough, actually. Sometimes I think she's got more of a warrior spirit than most men. I definitely got my share of her tough love growing up.

After just two hours of work, I'd cut quite a bit of hay, but not enough to fill the truck. Still had a lot more work to do. I was pretty sweaty, so I took off my shirt and felt a little cooler. It was nice when the wind started blowing and brought some fresh air. I could hear the grass rustling really clearly - something I'd never noticed before. Guess I hadn't paid much attention to it before.

"Hey, Mitarys! Come have some tea!" my neighbour called from his orchard.

"Thanks, I'm good!" I yelled back.

"Come on, take a break!" he wouldn't let up.

"Five minutes, okay?"

It was Mirek - Uncle Margath's son, the tractor driver's boy. Three years older than me, he'd just finished technical school and come back to work as our village mechanic. He stood out with his unusually light complexion. Kids at school used to call him "Whitey" or "Red." I never joined in - wasn't looking to get my face rearranged.

"Hey, Mirek," we shook hands.

"Look who's here," he smiled.

"How's civilian life treating you?"

"Can't complain. City was better though," his face clouded over.

"Better? With all the shortages?"

"Yeah, that part's rough," he admitted. "Got bread lines now, ration cards and everything."

"Great. That's exactly where I'm headed," I couldn't hide my worry.

"Hey, with your brain? You'll be fine," he said.

"City life though..." I gave a nervous laugh.

"Once you're in university, it'll all work out."

"Maybe..."

We had some tea, talked a while, then I went back to work. His words left me uneasy. How was anyone supposed to study with all those shortages? At least I'd have food from home at first. Maybe things would improve. I was mid-swing with my scythe when I heard:

"Mitarys! Get over here!" Mirek was shouting.

"What's wrong?"

"Hurry up!"

I dropped everything and ran. That's when I saw them - a whole herd of cows.

"What are they doing here?" I stared.

"Was gonna ask you that," he spread his hands.

"Wait - that's Milkie!"

"Who's on herd duty today?" he asked.

"Merbert."

"The principal's kid?" he snorted.

"That's the one."

"What an idiot! Is he crazy or what?" Mirek snapped.

"Let's find out what happened first."

"Can't even see our cow anywhere," he scanned the herd.

"This is bad. What do I do?"

"Just get Milkie to your place," he said.

"Got any rope?"

"There's one on that tree - take it."

"You're a lifesaver, thanks," I clasped his hand.

"No problem," he nodded.

I got my cow into the orchard and tied her to a walnut tree. The rest of the herd was hanging around our orchard, and they could jump over the wooden fence any minute. I had a dilemma: go home for lunch or stay here? Neither option seemed great. I knew I had to pick one that made more sense for the situation. I was really hungry, and that was weighing on my mind the most. While I was thinking, the neighbor's cow jumped over our fence. I ran after it, trying hard to chase it out of our orchard.

"Hey! Get back here, you crazy cow!" I chased after it, yelling. "What's wrong with all the other grass? Come on!"

I was gathering branches and old beams to fix the fence when Mirek showed up.

"Need a hand?" he picked up one of the beams.

"Nah, I got it," I said, trying not to sound rude.

"Two pairs of hands are better than one," he grinned.

"Can't argue with that!" I laughed.

We fixed the fence pretty quickly. I thanked my neighbor for helping and lay down on the grass to calm down and rest after all that work. Now I knew for sure I had to stay in the orchard, but what about lunch? It felt awkward asking my neighbor for help again. Every evening, my Dad checks on the orchard to keep it in good shape. He usually brings homemade lavash and cheese with him. I knew my Dad never wastes bread. He usually keeps leftover lavash in his backpack in our small garden shed. I went in, looked around, but couldn't spot the backpack. "Wonder where Dad put it? This is weird. Better check again. Ah, there you are!" I found the backpack hidden behind the tool box. I opened it and pulled out half a leftover lavash without the homemade cheese. It wasn't exactly fresh, but after trying it, I figured it was still good to eat. "Okay, found the bread - that's good! But what am I going to eat it with?" I wondered. I left the shed and put the bread on a small garden table. The heat wasn't letting up, the sun was cooking my brain, which was fighting against my attempts to think. I was stuck, couldn't come up with anything good. No solution in sight, but I was really hungry. Math is easier - at least there you have examples and ways to solve things, but here I just had this simple problem - finding something to go with the bread. Suddenly, I heard Milkie mooing. I went over to her to distract myself.

"Hey girl, too hot for you too, huh?" I rubbed Milkie's head. "I know, I know. Won't be much longer now."

Something told me she was actually listening. I could hardly believe it when Milkie started nodding her head like she understood every word. Then it hit me:

"That's it!" I jumped up. "I figured it out! Man, it's so obvious - I can just milk her and have the milk with my bread!"

I grabbed a one-liter jar from the shed and washed it in the...