The Cow-Pie Chronicles (16 page)

Tim's team sulked back to the dugout, leaving Tim alone. The other team and their fans cheered wildly.

Covered with dirt and blood running from his nose, Tim was in shock at what had happened. Mrs. Slinger walked out from behind the backstop and gave her son a tissue for his nose. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Fine,” Tim said.

His mom put her arm around her son's shoulders and walked off the field with him.

Dana came down from the stands to join them. As they headed home, Dana asked, “Using your bloody nose trick again?”

“It's not a trick, Dee-Dee.”

“Poop Slinger.”

“I wish,” Tim said quietly so no one would hear him.

Back to Table of Contents

Chapter 19

For the remainder of the summer, Tim spent as much time as he could at his grandparents' home. Their house was at the edge of town, next to an old apple orchard and a swamp overgrown with brush.

Walking through the trees and brush with his grandfather's dog, Bounce, almost felt like being on a farm. But being there all the time meant he didn't make any friends in town. Tim wasn't looking forward to going to a new school when summer ended.

On the first day of school, Tim walked along the tree-lined street by himself. All the other kids walked together in groups and some of the younger kids walked with parents. Tim realized that this was the first time he had ever walked to school in his entire life. As much as he had hated riding the school bus every day, at least he had been with people he knew.

Tim was entering the sixth grade, which had its classrooms in the same building as the junior high school. But unlike the seventh and eighth graders who were on a rotating bell schedule—they went from class to class every time the bell rang—the sixth graders stayed in the same classroom the entire day.

Tim sat quietly near the back of the room as the teacher introduced herself and talked about what they would be doing during the school year. Later, after lunch, each of the students had to stand up and introduce themselves. Many shared a lot of information about who they were and where they lived, which made Tim uncomfortable. There was no way he was going to tell everyone he grew up on a farm.

When it was Tim's turn, he stood and said, “I'm Tim Slinger. I live on Southeast Street.” Then he quickly sat down.

That's when he noticed a cute girl with curly brown hair in the front row. She was wearing a fancy yellow dress. She looked back at him several times after his introduction, which made Tim suspicious. He wondered if she were planning a skunk-perfume episode.

At the end of the day, Tim waited until all of the other students had left before he walked out. But the girl surprised Tim—she was standing outside the door.

“Hi,” she said.

Tim thought about ignoring her, but she stood right in front of him, making it impossible for him to pass without having to push her out of the way. He braced himself for the worst and said, “Hi.”

“I saw you at the Slinger farm auction last year. Was it your farm?” she asked.

Tim stared at her for a moment before responding, wondering how she knew anything about the auction. “Yeah, why?”

“We bought your cows,” she said.

“What?!” Tim asked, confused. He couldn't believe that the cute girl in his class would know anything about farming, much less anything about cows. “I don't understand. Who are you?”

“Niki Hiller.”

“I know your name. I mean, why would you buy our cows?”

“Didn't you listen to my introduction? I live on East Dairy Farm #6, right across from the new high school.”

Tim was stunned. He had never seen anyone who lived on a farm dress as nicely as her, even for school. “You live on a farm?”

“That's what I said. Was Patsy your 4-H calf?” Niki asked.

Tim's mind raced.
What is she up to?
Then he answered her. “She was supposed to be.”

“Well, you took good care of her. I'm impressed.”

She sounded sincere, but Tim was still suspicious some trick was lurking just around the corner. “How would you know?” he asked.

“I won second prize in the county fair with her this summer.”

Tim decided she really was trying to be nice to him after all. But in a way, he wished she were making fun of him. He was much better at being teased than complimented. “Good for you. I was supposed to take her there.”

“Want to come see her?” Niki asked.

Tim couldn't believe his ears. “You mean come to your farm?”

“Yes. Can you come Friday after school? I walk home instead of riding the bus on Fridays.”

“Um, sure, I guess. But I need to ask my mom. I'll let you know tomorrow, okay?” Tim asked.

“Sure. I'll ask my mom to call your mom tonight. I have to catch the bus. Bye.” Niki took off for the bus, leaving Tim standing alone. His teacher nearly ran into him outside the classroom door.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“Everything's great!” Tim said. He took off for home on a dead run.

Covering the half mile in record time, Tim burst through the front door, barely out of breath. Dana walked out of the kitchen eating a grape-flavored Popsicle.

“Somebody chasing you again?” she asked.

“No! Where's Mom?”

Just then, Tim's mom walked out with a Popsicle for him. He took it from her then quickly asked, “Can I go home with a friend after school on Friday?”

Dana crinkled her nose at Tim. “You have a
friend
?”

“Shut up, Dee-Dee.”

“Ha, ha. That doesn't bother me anymore,” Dana said.

“Who is your new friend?” Mom asked.

“Niki Hiller. She lives on the East Dairy Farm #6 and Patsy is her 4-H calf. She got second place at the fair showing Patsy,” Tim said.

Dana asked, “Did you tell her you're a Poop Slinger?”

“Ha, ha. That doesn't bother me anymore,” Tim said, copying Dana's high-pitched voice. Dana stuck her now purple-dyed tongue out at him.

“You want to see that cow you complained about endlessly when she was your responsibility?” Mom asked.

“I just want to be back on a farm with farm kids around,” Tim said.

“Yeah, where they like skunk perfume,” Dana said.

“Smells better than the stuff you're wearing,” Tim said.

“What stuff?” Mom asked, confused.

“I borrowed some of your perfume today,” Dana said.

Mom's eyes got as big as saucers. “What makes you think it's okay for a nine-year-old girl to use perfume?”

“My friend, Cindy, does,” Dana said.

“But it doesn't stink on you like it does on Dana, Mom,” Tim said.

Tim's mom grabbed Dana by the arm and began leading her out of the room for a talk about what little girls are, and are not, allowed to do. She stopped at the door for a moment. “Tim,” Mom said, “that place isn't the kind of farm you lived on.”

“It can't be that different,” Tim said.

“Go ahead. You won't understand until you see it for yourself,” Mom said. She turned back to her daughter. “Dana, we need to talk about you ‘borrowing' my things. Come with me, young lady.”

Tim was confused by his mom's warning.
What is it I need to see for myself?

* * *

It took forever for Friday to arrive. Niki didn't talk to Tim the rest of the days leading up to Friday, spending recess and lunch with her friends. All the boys hung out together, so Tim mostly wandered around the schoolyard by himself.

Finally, the bell rang. The school week was over! Tim met Niki at the door.

“Ready?” Niki asked.

“You bet!” Tim said.

They walked down the sidewalk for a bit then crossed over to a road and followed that one for a while.

“Why do you walk home on Fridays?” Tim asked.

“The East Dairy plant is on the way. They hand out free ice cream to the dairy family kids on Fridays.”

“And their guests?” Tim asked.

“Of course.”

The sidewalk ended, so they walked in the gravel at the edge of the pavement. The houses got farther apart and fields began to appear on the other side of wire fences as they headed out of town.

“Have you always lived on the East Dairy Farm?” Tim asked.

“No. We moved here a couple of years ago,” Niki said. “Why did you sell your farm?”

“Mom was pregnant and hurt herself. She had to stop working before my brother was born, and couldn't work after that, either,” Tim said. “Dad said we couldn't afford to hire someone and I wasn't old enough to do the field work.”

“I understand.”

Tim looked at Niki—her smile had disappeared behind a sad face. “You do? Maybe you could explain it to me,” Tim said.

“We moved here two years ago after selling our farm. It was a century farm,” Niki said.

“What's that mean?” Tim asked.

Niki hung her head a little and let out a sigh. “It was in our family for more than 100 years.”

Tim wasn't sure he should say anything more about it, but he couldn't let it go. “That's sad. Do you miss it?”

“Not as much as my brother does. He's in seventh grade.”

“At least you're still on a farm.”

“Not really. Look—there's the dairy plant,” Niki said, pointing across the road at a cluster of several large buildings.

Tim was a little surprised at Niki's answer.
How can East Dairy Farm #6 not really be a farm?
he wondered as he followed Niki to a door that had “Employee Entrance” painted on the outside. They went inside and walked down a short hall to an open door that had “Lunch Room” painted on it.

“Hi, Niki. Have a guest today?” a man behind a counter asked.

“Tim Slinger,” Niki said.

“Yes, I know his father,” the man said. He then asked Tim, “How's your dad doing?”

“Fine, I guess,” Tim said.

“I have something special for you today,” the man said.

Tim and Niki sat down at a counter and watched as the man walked back to the freezer, opened it, took out two small plates with slices of ice cream on them and brought them back to the counter. The vanilla ice cream slices were about the size of a slice of bread, but twice as thick. And printed in the middle of each slice was a pair of blue ice-cream bells.

“What are the bells for?” Niki asked.

“A special batch we made for a wedding this weekend. I kept a couple of slices for you.”

“Looks good,” Tim said. He and Niki finished off the ice cream quickly. It was so good, Tim secretly hoped for seconds, but didn't ask.

Getting up to leave, Tim thanked the man, as did Niki.