Madison and the Barnyard

           Madison looked out the window as the car pulled into her grandparents’ driveway.  It had been several months since Madison had seen her grandparents’ farm, and this time they were visiting in the summer.  She was almost beside herself with excitement for the opportunity to explore the farm today.

            Grandma and Grandpa stood on the front porch for Madison and Marie with outstretched arms.  Madison raced out of the car, up the porch steps, and into Grandpa’s waiting arms.  His overalls smelled like hay and cows, but that was how Grandpa always smelled.  Marie calmly walked up and hugged Grandma and then Grandpa.  Madison let go of Grandpa and jumped up so that Grandma held her on her hip.  Nobody else in the world still carried her this way anymore, and she loved that Grandma still let her do this.

            After everyone had finished all the hellos, Madison climbed down and grabbed Grandpa by the hand.  It was time to go exploring, and she didn’t want to waste a single minute.  Marie tagged along as Madison nearly dragged Grandpa to the fence of the cow pasture.  A cow was quietly chewing on grass next to the fence.  A calf came up and stuck his head through the fence toward Madison.  Grandpa showed Madison how to pet the calf, and then the calf licked Madison right in the face.

            “Ugh!” Madison exclaimed in disgust.  “That calf just licked me in the face.  His breath smells horrible.”

            Marie and Grandpa laughed, but Madison wiped her face off with her sleeve and then her shirt tail.  She couldn’t seem to get the icky off and kept wiping her face every few minutes.

            Just then Marie noticed something in the corner of the pasture lying on the ground next to the fence.

            “What’s that, Grandpa?” Marie asked.

            “Why, that’s a piece of honeycomb,” replied Grandpa.  “I must have dropped it when I gathered the honey this morning.  Look, it still has a little honey on it.  Do you girls want to try it?”

            Madison looked at the honeycomb suspiciously.  After the calf episode, she wasn’t sure she wanted to trust something in the cow pasture.  However, Marie dipped her finger in the honey and made a yum sound.  Madison slowly dipped her finger in the honey and barely touched the tip of her tongue with it.  It was sweet, but also a little strange tasting, too.  She wasn’t sure exactly how she felt about the honey.

            Grandpa and the girls slowly walked back toward the house.  Grandma’s chickens were pecking the ground in the backyard close to the backdoor looking for seeds to eat.  Madison went up to one of the chickens and reached out her hand to ruffle the chicken’s feathers.  As soon as she touched the chicken, it squawked and began chasing Madison.  Madison screamed and ran for Grandpa.  When she reached Grandpa, she literally climbed him and started crying uncontrollably.  All Grandpa could do was laugh.

            “It’s okay, Madison,” said Grandpa soothingly.  “I got you.  Look, that chicken has already gone back to pecking for seeds.”

            Madison looked at the chicken and began to calm down.  Then she saw that Marie was laughing at her and began to sulk.

            “Stop laughing at me,” said Madison angrily as she hid her face against Grandpa’s shoulder.

            “I’m sorry, Madison,” said Marie.  “But you climbing Grandpa like you just did was the funniest thing I have ever seen.”

            Madison thought about how that must have looked and began to giggle.  “It probably was pretty funny, wasn’t it,” said Madison as she climbed down out of Grandpa’s arms.

            “I think we’ve done enough exploring for the time being,” said Grandpa.  “I think your Grandma has supper waiting on us, and she made blackberry cobbler just for you girls.”

            Madison and Marie both looked at each other and dashed for the back door.  Exploring the farm would have to wait for later.