Cleo the Lettuce Eating Cow

Story by Christine Willis

Artwork by Rachel Willis

Growing up I was what you might call, a city/country girl. I lived in the city but spent lots of time in the country. My dad leased land out in the country and raised cattle. Every nice Spring day, Summer day, and Fall day we would pack a box of food and go out there usually in the evenings after dad got home from work. It would take us around 15 minutes to get there going 20 miles an hour (dad’s usual speed). We could not blame him, as the roads were bumpy and dusty. Not the smooth roads we have today.

We would get there and the cattle would greet us by standing in the roadway, mooing their welcome. After we passed them we would go to the campsite and start a campfire., and mom would get the food ready for the pit. After the fire burned down into coals, we would shovel them in to a hand dug pit and start bar-be-que-ing. In the meantime, the cattle would mosey down into the camp area to visit with us, leaving little presents behind. There was one steer in particular that was especially friendly. Her name was Cleo (yes, we named the cattle). Cleo would sneak up and steal food — especially the lettuce.

At first, no one knew what was going on. Mom would the set the lettuce out with the rest of the food, and all-of-a-sudden the lettuce was gone, disappeared into thin air. We would look everywhere for it in the cooler, in…