Chapter 10: Here I go
Otis, Melinda, and his friends did not arrive back for another hour after Abby had made her plan to talk with him tonight. Otis's friends had bought the story of her only following the scent of sunflowers that unexpectedly brought her to their location, mistakenly causing Otis to fall off his bike and apologized for making him miss the race because of her wanting to chat with him. She was forgiven quickly since racing could be done again anytime as Otis told her. For the rest of the afternoon, Melinda decided to go wandering around the beautiful green meadow like a hyperactive bumblebee, being in such a great mood from spending part of the day with Otis. She hummed as she decided to sit under a tree and pick up a few flowers to sniff at their fragrance. Everything about this farm was growing on her, from the magnificent corn fields to the beauty of Dandelion Meadow. It made her old home feel like a prison wall forbidding access to the outside world.
"I still can't believe I'm finally away from that old home of mine," Melinda said to herself, watching birds fly across the sky. "I mean I don't truly hate it. It's just…" her voice trailed off, unable to finish. She let out a sigh, hoping to clear her mind off of that old home of hers by watching the skies.
As happy as she was to be here, part of her master's words from her dream troubled her in a way. It was too soon for her to see Otis as her boyfriend. But she can start out as his friend and see how things go. She could see it wasn't going to be that easy of getting settled with her new surroundings for the next few days or so, but Melinda didn't discourage that easily. She had learned patience in her Kung Fu training and hoped to stick by it. For the rest of the afternoon, she meditated under the shady tree.
By the time evening approached, the farmer had gone off to bed seconds after the animals opened up Barn Night. The Barn Boys played their usual country and hillbilly music, Duke played Pool with the other bulls he challenged, taking less than a minute for the barn to become the hottest nightclub in three counties. Hens, roosters, pigs, sheep, goats, and horses rushed in to join.
Melinda couldn't believe her eyes once she saw how the whole barnyard was in full swing during the hoedown. She saw how Pig was making mock tail drinks for everyone like carrot juice, chocolate shake, strawberry shake, apple juice, melon juice, banana smoothie, iced water, cherry delight, fruit cider, lemonade, all sorts of delicious cold and hot drinks. And she could smell something good cooking in the kitchen, attacking her taste buds. This was to be her second night experiencing Barn Night that she felt herself growing accustomed to. She loved the frosty cold milk and couldn't wait to try the other drinks.
"Hmm, I wonder where Otis could be at this time," Melinda looked around, but found no sight of him anywhere in such a crowd. "Shouldn't he be in here by now? Maybe I should go look for him."
Then Root jumped on the stage as the Barn Boys took a bow and blew their kiss to the audience. "How about giving a biggie hand for the Barn Boys!" Root yelled to the crowd.
The audience roared their approval as the music band moved off the stage. Melinda followed along with the crowd, clapping her hooves if that's what she was supposed to do. For a while Root told a few jokes that had everyone laughing, including her. She didn't know why she was laughing, but she took a real liking into it. The cows mooed, the pigs oinked, the horses whinnied, and the dogs howled with delight.
"And now for the moment!" Root said. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's give it up for Otis and the Crew!"
The piano keys being played by two mice tinkled out a musical introduction in which a spotlight shined on Otis as Melinda had seen. He was wearing a hat and dark sunglasses, hopping onto the banister to sing a song.
So that's where Otis has been. Melinda thought, unable to keep her eyes off of him as she watched how Otis slid down and landed on the stage to be greeted by the explosive screams and whistles of the eager audience. He looks so dreamy up there. I wonder how he does it. And once he lowered his sunglasses to look Melinda in the eyes, he gave her a big handsome grin. Melinda's heart thumped madly, so dreamily dazed off that she wasn't aware of someone else standing next to her when she almost lost her balance and bumped into her. She turned and it was Abby.
"Oops sorry," Melinda said sincerely. "Abby…right?"
"Oh hey Melinda," Abby replied, pretending not to be annoyed or uncertain of her presence. "Enjoying the Barn Night so far?"
"I'm enjoying Otis up there honestly," Melinda faced Otis on stage singing, her face turning a deeper shade of red. "I can't believe he looked at me like that." Her tone was dreamy.
Abby winced at this, trying to keep her cool. Force of habit made her flash a dimpled smile anyway, in spite of her annoyance. Melinda didn't seem to be paying that much attention to her with the way she was talking and having her eyes locked on Otis.
"You know Melinda. I should tell you something about Otis and I don't wanna crush your spirit about it, but I think it was me he was looking at."
"Nonsense, I know what I see so that means he had his eyes on me," she said proudly.
Abby restrained her annoyance, hoping to try again. "If you're really certain about it, why don't we just ask him together?"
"There's no need for me to ask him. I already know." She still wore that same proud smile, either too dreamy to listen or refusing to hear her out.
Before Abby could say it again, Otis finished his song after jumping off the stage and throwing his hat around once the audience applauded.
"Woo hoo! I sure got it, uh huh!" he exclaimed, taking a deep breath from all that singing.
Quickly, Abby tapped Otis on the shoulders, getting his attention. "Otis, can I talk to you for a minute outside? I need to tell you something right away."
"Uh sure Abby, just give me a second here. I need to stretch out my muscles." It took Otis no more than five seconds to stretch every bone and his body from all that partying. "Ok I'm good. Now what it is you wanted to tell me Abby?"
"Not in here Otis. I'd prefer outside where there's nothing to blast our ear drums."
Then Abby started pulling Otis outside as he glanced over his shoulder at Melinda. "Um, will you excuse me Melinda? I'll be right back. This won't take long."
Even though she would have preferred for Otis to stay behind and perform some more, Melinda only shrugged her shoulders and decided to go check out the bar. She stared eagerly at the many drinks Pig was making. They all looked so delicious. Also Melinda noticed the cook book menu filled with other delights such as soups, pies, salads, cakes, fudges, and chowders.
Pig caught her attention. "Hey there Melinda, what can I get for you?"
"How about a bowl of this red soup?" Melinda pointed to the picture on the menu.
"Oh you must mean the special tomato soup that's already cooking," Pig said, correcting her. "Coming right up."
Melinda waited thirty seconds before Pig came back with the tomato soup quickly, hot enough to quench her taste buds. She had thanked him and couldn't wait to try it out.
"Hmm, think it needs a little pepper," she added to herself. Distracted by the music and of Otis dancing on stage in her mind, Melinda had accidentally grabbed a bottle of hot chili sauce instead of pepper.
As the party went on inside the barn, Abby had taken Otis a few feet away in hopes of avoiding the noise so they could have their private conversation by the lake without any interruptions. This was it. Abby was finally going to tell Otis her personal feelings that she couldn't tell him before. She had to do it or else he might fall in love with somebody else; Melinda probably. Trying not to let that name bother her, Abby cleared her throat and gained up courage.
"Otis, do you remember when you and I were trapped inside the giant corn monster and said some things when both of us thought we were gonna die?"
"Come to think of it, I do remember?" Otis answered. "But then we went on with our lives, pretending nothing happened in there with what we said. Is that it?"
Abby rolled her eyes. "Yeah about that…" Her voice trailed off for a second. "…well now I need to tell you how I feel before it's too late. You know all those times I acted aggressive or hurt you physically with the help of Bessy? It's because I love…"
Without warning, Abby was silenced by a piercing scream with the barn doors bursting open. It was Melinda, racing toward the lake, eyes bloodshot red and her mouth on fire. She passed behind Abby and Otis to dunk her entire head in the lake for a large drink. Both cows were shocked to see how the new girl was keeping her head in the water like that, wondering what could have happened.
Melinda pulled her head out, gasping for air. "That's the hottest bowl of tomato soup I ever tasted." Never knowing about the hot sauce she accidentally added, the tomato soup was hotter than a box of chili peppers.
"Wait a minute, I don't recall Pig's special tomato soup being that hot," Otis said in disbelief. "What did you put in it?"
"Pepper Otis. At least I could have sworn I added in that ingredient. Or maybe I grabbed the wrong bottle." She dipped her head in again, her tongue still hot.
Otis turned to Abby for a second. "Will you excuse me Abby? I think Melinda needs a little support here. But we can talk about this later."
Abby gave an irritated sigh and whispered under her breath. "Great, Melinda messed up my chance tonight."
She watched as Otis was giving Melinda some help with her hot tongue by telling her to drink two more sips of water. So far it had been working, although her mouth still felt warm.
"You know Otis, I sure am hot enough for a glass of iced water from the bar," Melinda said, wiping her forehead all the way back behind her head, smiling at Otis.
Noticing the reaction, Abby angrily stomped her foot and marched back to the barn and thought that she heard Otis tell Melinda that he would love to go out with her, making her cringe. Yet it was already growing loud as she headed back that she couldn't really tell what he had been saying to her. Then again, she was too irritated to care or ask Otis about it.
Back inside, she sat down at one of the empty Barn Night tables and sighed. It seemed her first idea didn't work out the way she wanted it to all thanks to Melinda interfering like that. Either the new girl looked like she was stealing Otis' attention away from her or she was still new to this country and just didn't know any better. But whatever it was going on in Melinda's mind, Abby didn't like it one bit. It made her disappointed that she lost her first chance and now she'd have to think of another plan.
"Hey Abby, what's up?" Bessy came up and decided to sit down next to her friend.
"Oh hey Bessy," Abby said weakly. "What do you think of Melinda so far?"
AN: Again another new chapter to add. I only added two new chapters to show that I have not give up on this story and never will. Again I want to apologize for not updating this story recently due to me having a little trouble on how to continue the middle and already becoming interested in writing another Halloween story. But I do hope you enjoy the two new chapters. I can't wait to see how BATB ends with the Aliens! episode for next week. But will Otis and Abby finally admit their feelings to each other in that one. I sure hope so otherwise I would have to do it myself in this story. And do I sense that something may already be going on with how Abby is starting to feel toward Melinda, thinking she's stealing Otis' attention away from her? It could be that it might already start to turn into a rivalry growing. And how will Bessy answer Abby's question at the end of this chapter? Just wait for the next update, which may not be until sometime in November or December.