Back at the Farm

Snowball couldn’t believe that his friends were still sleeping. They apparently had grown used to the rooster crowing at the break of dawn.  Today was their last day down at the farm and they had slept right through the rooster’s “Cock a doodle doo!”

Eating his last bite of scrambled eggs, a sly thought came to Snowball’s mind. With a smile he mentioned his idea to Luke and Luke heartily agreed to it.

Jangle and Alabaster shot out of bed, and Jinx was holding his head in his hands wondering what had just happened. One moment he had been having sweet dreams and the next …. his ears were ringing!

Snowball and Luke were laughing with tears streaming down their faces. The trumpet was now resting in Luke’s lap.

“Had I told you guys that I was a star trumpet player back in school?”  Luke said, with his eyes twinkling.

Jinx, Jangle and Alabaster stood there with dazed expressions on their faces.

“It is a beautiful morning isn’t it!” said Snowball, “Hurry up and get dressed now, the cows are waiting. Betsy is waiting for you especially, Alabaster.”

Jinx looked at Snowball. “What has you so cheery this morning?”

“Remember the fortune cookies we got at the restaurant last night? Well I had forgotten to read mine until this morning.  It said, ” Today will be a bright, beaming, wonderful day, nothing bad shall befall you.”

Snowball was all smiles, “Today is my day! See ya all out in the barn!” and he was laughing as he closed the door.

The day did seem to be turning out just how Snowball’s fortune had said.  His friends were having mishaps, but his day was shaping up perfectly.

While Alabaster was stacking up some hay, he slipped and fell into a pile of manure. He told Snowball that he was sure Betsy was silently laughing at him. Betsy may have been silently laughing, but Snowball and the others weren’t so quiet.

Jinx was trying to plow the field with the mule, but the mule had sat down and was refusing to listen to Jinx’s pleas to get up. Jinx finally gave up and decided he would get a start on digging some holes that Luke had wanted dug. He was pretty good at digging holes. At least he had thought he was, until he hit one place where the dirt wasn’t budging , he put a lot of force on his shovel and before he knew it he had done a belly flop onto the ground , with dirt flying into his face.

Jangle had tried getting eggs from the Henrietta and managed to grab 4 of them, before getting pecked on his hand.

Meanwhile Betsy had cooperated real nicely for Snowball when he milked her and then he enjoyed lying on the hammock, taking a nap under a nice shade tree. Annie had come out to him after his little nap with a glass of sweet lemonade. She also carried her favorite book in her arms, for him to read to her. “The Odessa Chronicles”

He enjoyed the book as much as Annie did, laughing at all the crazy antics of the characters. She had also sneaked some donuts out of the kitchen for them to have. She gave an impish grin as she gave one to Snowball. Oh, was it yummy!

The day flew by and too  soon it was time for Julia to drive the guys back to the airport so they could catch their plane back to the North Pole.

Luke and Julia were so appreciative of all their hard work and invited them to come back anytime! They all felt bittersweet about leaving, for Luke and Julia were really nice and Annie was simply adorable. Alabaster though was not going to miss Betsy the cow at all!

They were all settled in their seats on the plane and were chatting about the week they had at the farm. Amidst the mishaps, it had been a really good time, but they were eager to see their friends at the North Pole again.

A stewardess interrupted them and leaned down to Snowball and said, ” Congrats sir! You have won the prize!”

“A prize?” said Snowball in shock. Then he turned to the others and said, “See how right my fortune was, the day just keeps getting better and better.”

The others just shook their heads in disbelief.

“Out of all the passengers on this plane, your name was drawn. You get a nice box of chocolates, from all of us here, hoping you will fly our airlines again!”

Snowball grinned from ear to ear as he thanked them for his chocolates and he was nice enough to offer some to his friends.

“Yup today sure has been…”

Suddenly the plane rocked, the stewardess lost her balance and her full pitcher of ice cold water fell right into Snowball’s lap.

The stewardess apologized profusely, but his friends were laughing.

“What were you saying again about your luck today?” said Alabaster.

“Oh Snowball, you do know you can’t always believe everything you read, right? Including a fortune from a fortune cookie. ”

Snowball just sat there not saying a word, but smacked his head with his hand, forgetting it was the one that now had soggy, melted chocolate on it.

Yes, sometimes the things you read are just too good to be true.