Frustrated, Danny yanked at the chain, fruitlessly attempting to drag the thousand some pound creature closer.
"Come on." He grunted through his teeth, muscles straining. His feet used the cement on the floor, the separator between stall and food mixture, pushing off it.
The cow twisted its head and kept tugging backward on the chain in its own fruitless attempt to back out and leave the stall.
Unhook and chase the cows out of the barn while Dale and Matt went out to feed the calves with the milking done. No big deal. Easy. Simple.
All Danny had to do was unhook it from the front of the stall. To have a little bit of wiggle room. Enough to unclasp the hook for it.
That was it.
He'd even given up as he'd gone down unhooking the cows on this side of the barn, skipping to come back to this one, hoping it'd move forward so he could get it unhooked when he came back to it.
Nope.
Chain taunt, shifting and moving back and forth, but not closer. Danny's muscles strained. Just a little give, a little room, come on. He grit out insults through clenched teeth, legs pushing and arms pulling, frustration mounting higher and toward a breaking point.
"Come on you! It's already been a looong day for me cow. Just. Come here. You can't get out with the chain on, it's solid and clearly isn't going to break or magically release... Idiot."
Ignoring any attempts to unhook the chain from the metal loop of its collar, Danny shifted his hand back from the clasp and made the chain intangible.
"Ha!"
Breathless, he stumbled, getting his footing back. The cow did the same. Standing there and shaking its head from all the straining it'd been doing on it.
Danny took in a steadying breath, swiped at his forehead, and grinned proudly. Success.
"There you go. Free."
And halfway back in the stall, unchained and free and no longer straining, the cow simply stood.
"Come on. Go."
Danny leaned forward to swat a hand in its face. Right near where he'd been grasping to unhook it and why it'd been straining back before he had it undone. The cow tossed its head. Tail swishing back and forth. Feet not moving an inch.
"Get out. You're done being milked. Oh my god. You wanted to be out! Move!"
Nothing.
"That's it."
He threw his hands up.
"I'm done."
Walked away.
"Stay there for all I care."
Unbidden, unwanted, Elizabeth's words from a while back floated up to the forefront of Danny's head.
"Cows are stupid."
He glanced back and scowled darkly at the cow still standing half out of the stall. The only cow left in the barn. The cow that'd been so desperate to leave. Stood. Tail swishing.
"Really stupid." He spat out.