The buttercups soaking in the morning dew have always been good, but this particular morning, they were the best. I crunched down on a brittle, green leaf as I tried to remember when I had felt such serenity and peace. Ever since the move to the edge of the pasture, I had always felt uncomfortable in or near the new barn. Whenever I tried to visit Hammy, the rooster, or Pooch, the old mare, I was shooed off by the cranky, mostly-naked-in-springtime sheep, with their newborn lambs clinging helplessly to them. 

"Bessie! Come back here! I gotta milk you or Pa'll surely flog me this time! Pleeeaase!" Matthew screamed as only a five-year-old could, scaring away the sing-song bluebirds and robins and breaking my long cherished solitude. His older sister, Marge, had gone away to a boarding school last year, and more than anything I longed for her soft pat on the back and soothing words as she milked me. Matt's modus operandi was a little different, to say the least. He would run into the barn, screaming and shouting, splashing the milk all over, and frightening the chickens out of their feathers. Every time Matt left, I would contemplate withholding my precious bounty. 

I trudged unwillingly over to the barn, when I spotted a broken fence post. I knew this was my one and only chance to break free of all the misery and neglect I had been receiving. Okay, may be I was exaggerating - just a little. But then I thought of all the hardships my family would go through. No milk, cream, friendship, someone to talk to. I realized how much I would miss Hammy, Pooch, and Dwaddle, the goose, and how much they would miss me. 

My head was spinning in circles as I weighed the pros, cons, right, and wrong. From Matt's point of view, it looked as if I was staring blankly into the open space, a common human misconception, I might add. I finally realized that once in the open, I would do nothing but walk slowly back to the barn and all things familiar. 

So I continued on towards the barn, where Matt's gentle pat felt strangely like Marge's. As I looked onto the pasture, I could've sworn, I saw a buttercup wink at me.