Clifthangers

I know that many of my readers will be having a hectic time with study at the moment so I figured that I would upload a bit of a fun story. It's one that I wrote about this time last year. I'm very fond of it, but it isn't one that has seen much exposure to an audience.

So please, take a little bit of time out of your academic musings and enjoy an easy read =)

Christopher.

***

The cow perched precariously on the edge of the cliff, entirely unsure as to how she came to be in this curious predicament. She gazed down cautiously, her jaw slowly chewing the gourmet cud she had just regurgitated. Blinking slowly, she decided to take a small step into the emptiness before her, just to see whether she wanted to continue walking. The cliff crumbled slightly, a dozen or so pebbles violently made their way down the exposed face of the cliff. The cow decided that it probably wasn’t the best idea, and took a few steps backwards into a wall of rock rising behind her. She kept chewing. The cow glanced to her left, eyeing a juicy clump of grass growing out of the rocky platform she had found herself balanced on. She turned herself to face it and, deciding that it was best to take a bite, swallowed her cud.


A harsh wind swept up the cliff. The cow took the delicious-looking clump to her mouth, and tugged gently. It didn’t budge. The cow tugged a little harder. It didn’t budge. She made sure her feet were planted solidly into the rocky platform, and took the clump into her mouth once more. Taking a deep breath she heaved her neck and body, her solidly planted legs giving her leverage. The grass didn’t budge. She let go, letting out a slightly defeated, yet still defiant, moo. The cow plonked herself onto the hard ground, staring intently at the stubborn tuft and imagining its juicy green goodness in her mouth. She hacked up her cud once more. Chewing cautiously, she tilted her head sideways in a thoughtful gaze, and a few moments later she rose again seemingly energised by a new idea.


The cow took a few steps over to the tuft, swallowed her cud, shook herself slightly, and began to furiously kick the hard rock that stood between her and her lunch. Her hard hooves sent chips of rocks flying down the cliff, going the same way as their previous brethren and tantalisingly exposing more of the delicious greenness. A few moments later the cow stopped, panting from her efforts. She bent her head, closely examining her hoof-work. The cow opened her mouth, enveloping the tuft in her moist cheeks. She braced herself once more, and heaved. The grass didn’t budge. Furiously she belted a series of aggressive moos at the stubborn plant while kicking angrily at the sheet of rock behind her. Throwing herself to the ground, she loudly hacked up her cud, and began to chew angrily, resuming her brainstorming.


The cow looked around the rocky platform she perched upon, searching for something that could possibly help her. Her wandering gaze focussed, suddenly, upon a patch of sand wedged amongst a couple of larger rocks. Poking its head out from this patch was the tip of a worn looking piece of rope. She glanced at the shelf of rock rising behind her, noting a rocky protrusion. The cow once again rose, the anger that previously flowed through her replaced by excitement. She grabbed the rope and pulled it from its sandy bed and, in some unlikely and just plain astounding movements of her mouth, managed to tie it tightly onto the stalk of the grassy tuft. Abandoning the tied end of the rope, she gathered the other end into her cheeks, and shuffled over to the face of rock behind her. She looped the rope around the previously noted protrusion, creating a simple pulley system. The cow, for the third time, dug her hooves into the ground, braced herself, and heaved on the rope with all the weight she could muster. The tuft flew out of the rocky enclosure it called home. The cow swallowed her cud in surprise and stumbled backwards into nothingness.


The cow was falling but letting out an ecstatic moo for the world to hear. The tuft - still attached to the rope, still attached to her mouth, fell with her. As she fell she began to pull the rope with her mouth, bringing the tuft closer toward her toward her. When the knot that attached the rope and tuft reached her, she freed the juicy green goodness with a few deft movements of the tongue and let the rope fall away. She closed her eyes, letting the juices of the stubborn tuft flow over tongue, enjoying the fruit of her labour. She reached the end of her drop, hitting her head on the rock of a platform that caught her. She swallowed the grass at the suddenness of it, and decided to lose consciousness.


The cow perched precariously on the edge of the cliff, entirely unsure as to how she came to be in this curious predicament. She gazed down cautiously, her jaw slowly chewing the gourmet cud she had just regurgitated. Blinking slowly she decided to take a small step into the emptiness before her, just to see whether she wanted to continue walking. The cliff crumbled slightly, a dozen or so pebbles violently made their way down the exposed face of the cliff. The cow decided that it probably wasn’t the best idea, and took a few steps backwards into a wall of rock rising behind her. She kept chewing. The cow glanced to her left, eyeing a juicy clump of grass growing out of the rocky platform she had found herself balanced on. She turned herself to face it and, deciding that it was best she took a bite, swallowed her cud.


A harsh wind swept up the cliff. The cow took the delicious-looking clump to her mouth, and tugged gently.


It didn’t budge.