Free Listen To Me Honey by Fay Risner

whop you with her tail. I think I'll like her
better than Maybelle,” Amanda said truthfully.
    “Suit yerself. Let's go.” Art walked toward the barn and
looked past it to the pasture. “How do ya like that? Those two lazy
cows haven't even started fer the house. They're standin' in the
low end of the pond, coolin' off.”
    “I'll go get them for you if you want,” Amanda
offered.
    “Go
for it, but don't run them. It's too hot. Just bring them back nice
and easy. I'll get our bucket of wash water and pour the feed in
the troughs so I'm ready when ya get here,” Art said.
    Amanda went through the barn and
out the back door. She trotted across the pasture to the low end of
the pond, calling, “Come on, Maybelle. Come on,
Eleanor.”
    The cows perked up and waded to the
pond bank. They turned Amanda's direction and moseyed to meet her.
They knew what she wanted them to do.
    Amanda got behind the cows and
talked to them as they ambled along. They had a cow path made to
the barn. Amanda found it interesting that the cows walked in a
line, staying on their path.
    When the cows walked through a
patch of weeds Amanda did, too. Suddenly, her legs stung like they
were on fire. Amanda glanced at the angry welts from the edge of
her blue jean shorts down to her tennis shoes. She groaned and
wished she'd worn jeans to do chores.
    She tried rubbing the welts, but
they hurt worse. Nothing to do but wait until she got back to the
barn and found out what to do. Grandpa would know.
    Amanda edged around the cows and
slipped in the back barn door. “Grandpa, you have to help me.” She
hopped up and down in place. The pain made tears run down her
face.
    Art rushed to her. “What
happened?”
    “The
cows went through a weed patch so I followed them, and now my legs
sting something awful. Look how red they are.”
    “Oh,
Mandie, y'all walked in the stingin' weed patch.”
    “From the way my legs feel, I'd say that's right,” Amanda
said, sniffling. “What can I do to make it quit
hurting?”
    Art scratched the side of his head.
“Let me see. Best I remember when this happened, the old timers
spread cow manure all over the spots that sting.”
    Amanda quit crying. “You're
joking!”
    “No,
best get outside and see if Maybelle and Eleanor have left a fresh
pile. That's the best. It's warm and fresh enough to spread
easy.”
    Amanda hurried to the
door.
    “Let
the cows in, and I'll start on them. Ya don't look in any shape to
milk tonight anyway,” Art said.
    Amanda opened the door, stepped
aside while the cows entered and went back outside. Sure enough,
where the cows waited anxiously to get let into the barn, they
splatted two fresh piles.
    This wasn't going to be pleasant,
but Amanda was desperate. She'd just about do anything to get rid
of the stinging pain.
    Amanda held her breath and put two
fingers in a cow pie. She scooped up some and rubbed it on her
legs. So far she couldn't tell it was doing a thing to relieve the
sting, but she continued the procedure until she had both legs
smeared with the smelly, brown mess.
    By the time she finished, Grandpa
had Eleanor milked and started on Maybelle. “Feel better,
Mandie.”
    “Not
really. My legs sure hurt, and now I smell as awful as the
outhouse,” Amanda said, wrinkling her nose as she
sniffled.
    “Tell ya what, go see if yer grandma can tell ya what to
do. I'll be done here directly,” Art said.
    When Amanda walked in the kitchen
door, Tansy was mixing up cornbread. She sniffed the air before she
looked up. “What is that awful smell?” Her mouth flew open when she
saw Amanda's brown coated legs. “Oh my! What did ya do? Trip on a
rock and fall down in a cow pie.”
    “Not
exactly,” Amanda said, pulling a chair away from the
table.
    “Oh
no, ya don't! Ya ain't sittin' in my chair. Now what happened?”
Tansy demanded.
    Amanda explained how she followed
the cows through a weed patch and how bad her legs hurt.
    “Best wear jeans to do chores from now on,”