One cloudy afternoon, Tiger and Shrimp watched farmer Joe as he guided someone driving a big truck. The truck had a large trailer attached to it and Joe guided it back down the driveway. Shrimp and Tiger huddled close to the barn to stay out of the way.
“What do you suppose is in there?” Shrimp asked.
“I don’t know, maybe nothing, maybe something,” Tiger said as he watched.
The truck and trailer stopped so farmer Joe walked around to the cab of the truck. A large man stepped out of the driver's seat and shook Joe’s hand.
“Who do you think that is?” Shrimp asked.
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen him before,” Tiger said.
Farmer Joe walked with the man to the back of the trailer and pulled a ramp out from underneath it. Tiger and Shrimp slowly crept a little closer to see what they were doing.
Farmer Joe saw the kittens creeping closer and said, “stay back you two.” Joe held his hand up like a stop sign.
Shrimp stopped suddenly, and Tiger stopped after bumping into the back of her. They both watched as the large man pulled open the big doors of the trailer. Farmer Joe walked up to the open trailer and looked inside while the big man walked up the ramp to go inside. Shrimp tried to see what was inside the trailer by hopping up and down, but couldn’t see anything. Tiger sat and waited patiently for the large man to walk back out.
After about a minute, farmer Joe moved off to one side of the ramp as the large man walked out holding a rope. What Shrimp and Tiger didn’t expect to see on the other end of the rope was a big hairy brown bull. The large man pulled the rope and guided the big bull down the ramp. Farmer Joe reached out and took the rope from the man.
“Wow, what is that?” Shrimp asked as she watched it walk onto the driveway.
Tiger backed up and hid behind Shrimp as Joe petted the big bull on the head. Joe then looked at the two kittens as he guided the bull.
“This is Rambo. He’s a new member of the farm,” Joe said before he slowly walked the bull past the barn.
“Rambo… Boy, he’s big,” Shrimp said.
Shrimp cautiously followed Joe and Rambo past the barn and out to the pasture. Tiger stayed and watched the large man close up the trailer, and push the ramp back up. Farmer Joe guided Rambo in through a gate and took the rope off of him. Shrimp stopped at the gate and watched as Rambo casually walked into the pasture and nibbled on the grass. Joe coiled up the rope and closed the gate behind him. Before heading back to the large man by the truck, Joe bent over and petted Shrimp on the head.
“You be careful around Rambo. He might step on you,” Joe said to Shrimp.
Shrimp meowed at farmer Joe and then watched Rambo for a moment before running to catch up to Joe. The large man waved to Joe before he climbed into the cab of his truck. Tiger just sat back and observed everything that was going on because he didn’t want to get too close. Joe waved at the large man in the truck as he pulled away, while Shrimp ran over to Tiger.
“He’s pretty special isn’t he?” Shrimp asked Tiger.
“I guess so. It’s just a big hairy cow,” Tiger said.
“He’s not a cow,” Billy the blackbird said while sitting on the fence post.
Tiger and Shrimp looked behind them.
“Hi, Billy. What did you say?” Shrimp asked.
“Rambo, he’s not a cow, he’s a bull. Did you see the horns on his head?” Billy asked.
“Yes, they look sharp,” Shrimp said.
“Yes, they are, so be careful around him,” Billy said.
“Well, I’m not going anywhere near him. He scares me,” Tiger said.
“He doesn’t scare me, I think he is beautiful,” Shrimp gazed into the pasture.
So while Shrimp admired Rambo from afar, Tiger hopped and played around with something that he found on the ground. As for Christmas at the farm, Shrimp and Tiger will get some good treats along with their mom. Some of Joe’s family will get pretty wrapped packages. But for Joe, he got his present early, Rambo the bull. Merry Christmas everyone.
Please join me again for another adventure with Shrimp and Tiger.