One chilly night on the farm, the cows started to moo and moo. Rambo the bull was lying by the tree when he heard his cow friends moo. This wasn’t their regular moo either. Rambo stood up and glanced around in the dark but couldn’t see anything.
“Moooo, moooo,” the cows said.
Shrimp, Tiger, and Momma were in the barn when they heard the cows.
"Momma, what’s going on? The cows sound scared,” Shrimp asked.
“I’m not sure but wait here,” Momma said.
“Where are you going Momma?” Tiger asked.
“Stay there, I’m going to see what’s going on,” Momma said as she walked toward the barn door.
Still in the pasture, Rambo walked over to where the cows were mooing and saw a coyote. It was standing on the other side of the fence staring at them. Rambo grunted and snorted, and rushed toward the fence. Because Rambo was so large, he scared the coyote so it ran toward the barn. The coyote stopped and looked back but didn’t see Rambo behind him. Momma heard the sound of something run up near the barn so she peeked out the small opening of the door.
“What’s out there Momma?” Shrimp called out.
Tiger stood quietly next to Shrimp as they both wondered what was outside. Momma stepped outside of the barn and looked to the left where she heard the noise. She didn’t see anything yet but heard something walking in her direction. Momma stood still and guarded the barn. Just then, the coyote walked around the corner of the barn and saw Momma. The coyote stopped when Momma let out a deep growl. But when the coyote took another step toward her, Momma hissed.
“Momma, momma,” Shrimp and Tiger called out.
Momma growled and hissed again at the coyote but the coyote crept closer to her. This time Momma let out a loud squeal and then hissed. Shrimp had to see what was going on so she ran to the barn door. When Shrimp peeked out, she saw her mom with her her hair standing up and her back arched. When Shrimp looked to see what her mom was hissing at, she saw the large brown coyote starring at her momma.
“Momma,” Shrimp called out.
“Stay there Shrimp,” Momma yelled.
With all the unusual sounds going on, farmer Joe flipped the outside light switch on. He peeked out the window, grabbed his rifle, and walked out the back door. As he looked toward the barn, he saw the coyote in front of it staring at Momma cat. Farmer Joe fired his rifle into the air. Just like that, the coyote ran up the driveway past the house and down to the road.
Shrimp ran out to her mom, “Momma, are you okay?”
Momma lowered her back and shook her fur, “I’m okay now.”
“Wow, you were so brave,” Shrimp rubbed her head on her mom.
“Is everything okay now?” Tiger peeked through the opening of the barn door.
Just then, farmer Joe shuffled over to Momma and Shrimp, “are you okay Momma? That nasty coyote sure scared you didn’t he?” Joe bent over to pet Momma and Shrimp.
Shrimp rubbed up against Joe’s leg and then rubbed on her mom again. Tiger slowly crept out when he saw that Joe was petting them both. Joe pet Tiger too when he nudged his arm with his head.
“Don’t worry little fella, I won’t forget you,” Joe pet Tiger.
“Is everything alright out there?” Joe’s wife called out.
“Everything is good now… You three go ahead now, the coyote is gone,” Joe stood up.
Joe went back into the house with his wife while Shrimp and Tiger followed their mom back into the barn.
“You should have seen the big thing that momma was ready to fight,” Shrimp said to Tiger.
“I wasn’t going to fight it unless it was absolutely necessary,” Momma said.
“Well, anyways, it was big and scary,” Shrimp said.
“What was it?” Tiger asked.
For another hour, Momma felt that she needed to be on guard just in case it came back. But she stayed with her kittens and tried to answer any of the questions that they might have about the coyote. Once Shrimp stopped talking, and questions got answered, they all started to settle down. Momma laid down and listened for any strange sounds that might pop up again, while her kittens laid on their beds and drifted off to sleep.
Please join me again for another story with Shrimp and Tiger. You never know what will happen on the farm.