I rub my eyes and struggle to free myself from those moments between sleep and awake.<\/p>\n
I hear it again, but I know this time that I am truly awake.<\/p>\n
It is the sound of a cow right outside my window.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t own a cow, nor do I live anywhere near anyone else that does.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t even live in the country where one might just happen by.<\/p>\n
But there it is once more, a cow, it is definitely a cow.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I pull myself from beneath the warm blankets and walk to the window.<\/p>\n
As I open the blinds, there it is. A cow. And it\u2019s looking right at me.<\/p>\n
It moos again as if it wants something from me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There is no one else around as it is just barely dawn and I don\u2019t know quite what to do.<\/p>\n
I decide to get dressed and see if it is injured, or stuck, or something. I don\u2019t know what.<\/p>\n
And I hear it moo again. More urgently. Perhaps rushing me?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I reach to open my bedroom door, but I jerk my hand back instantly.<\/p>\n
It is burning hot to the touch.<\/p>\n
The cow begins mooing more insistently if that is possible.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I feel the door and it too is hot to the touch and that is when I see the wisps of smoke curling under the door.<\/p>\n
My house is on fire!<\/p>\n
The cow\u2019s mooing is getting louder somehow.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I stumble to the window where the cow is waiting, and I struggle to get it open.<\/p>\n
It has been painted shut in some past redecorating project of mine \u2013 I panic.<\/p>\n
The cow moves to the window.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I watch dumbfounded as the cow puts its head down and runs straight into my sealed window.<\/p>\n
Glass shatters around me.<\/p>\n
I shake off my disbelief and make my way out the window.<\/p>\n
Sirens in the distance are getting closer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The firefighters ask me if anyone else is in the house as they check me for injuries.<\/p>\n
I tell them no, but I want them to make sure the cow is ok.<\/p>\n
Later, at the hospital, I was told that no one ever found a cow.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
– Diana Kristine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I rub my eyes and struggle to free myself from those moments between sleep and awake. I hear it again, but I know this time that I am truly awake. It is the sound of a cow right outside my window. I don\u2019t own…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":983,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[6075],"class_list":["post-135086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem","tag-2023-hour-10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/983"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135096,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135086\/revisions\/135096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}