Chapter Eleven: Wanna be Artist

Sky did not have a cow.

The cow…was gone.

He and the cow did not belong.

It was too much for Sky. So he went and got himself another cow.

At about noon time a week after the disappearance of Betsy, Sky went over and rammed on Takakura's door.

"What do ya want?" He heard Takakura call from inside. He opened the door and looked at Sky, waiting for Sky to explain why he was here.

"I want a new cow." Sky said.

"You killed off your old one!" Takakura said.

"No I didn't! It was an alien! I've told you this!"

"Like I said, you killed your last one so what expects me to give ya a new one?"

Sky folded his arms. "Uhh…Takakura, you remember that favor I did for you last month?"

"What?" Fear crept into Takakura's voice.

"You know…with the duck and the chicken…together…"

Takakura halted him immediately, putting a finger to his mouth to get him quiet. "Oh THAT favor, right. Fine, I'll get you a cow. But if this turns out to be another one of dem aliens, I'll just have that duck visit again…"

Sky was horrified at the very thought.

So, the next day, at 3am in the morning, this time Takakura knocked on his door. "Wake up ya sleepyhead! Rise and shine, look at this beautiful day!" Sky stood up and stepped into his fluffy bunny slippers. He opened the door to find that it was still dark outside.

"Wmmfh?" Sky said in an incomprehensible language.

"I got your cow. Now be thankful and give me a hug!" Takakura exclaimed, arms outstretched.

Sky yawned. "Now Takakura, what haveI told you about this whole 'hugging' situation before?"

Takakura lowered his arms. "Oh...right...well your cow is in the field. She's just a baby, so she won't be giving any more milk for some time."

Sky's eyes widened. "WHAT!"

"She's too little to give milk."

"But...but she was my bread and butter!" Sky exclaimed.

Takakura eyed him curiously. "No wonder Betsy ran away! You were going to turn her into bread and use her milk for butter! You evil, vile person!"

"No! It's an expression. Us former city-folk like to use expressions." Sky said proudly.

"Well it's time to get back on your horse." Takakura said.

"Uhh...Apple doesn't really like me riding him at this time of night and..."

Takakura sighed. "You're hopeless. Well, since you were still sleeping I went ahead and named your new cow. Her name is...is Ali!"

It took a moment for Sky to register what name he had just heard. "Ali! What type of name is that? It's way to...girly!"

"Ali is a girl and likes her name!"

"Fine, whatever, disgrace Sky Farm with your horrible naming, I'm going to bed." He shut the door.

Takakura knocked on the door two seconds later. "Rise and shine! It's time to get to work! Look at the beautiful day!"

"Alright, ALRIGHT, I get your point." Sky said and got up for work.

The cow was pathetically small. It had huge brown eyes and a small little body and stared at him with the most innocent face in the world. It said, "I want to be your friend." In a very affectionate manner.

Sky backed away from the cow. "Hold on a minute, no more talking! I already have the voices IN MY HEAD for guidance so you can just…just…not talk!"

The baby cow mooed.

"Fine, I'm going to the chicken coop." Sky declared and stomped away from the cow.

He was walking up to the chicken coop when, out of the blue, three little elves appeared at his feet. "Hey! Watch where you're going, buddy!" A little voice screamed at him.

Sky screamed and jumped back. Nik, Nak, and Flak all stared at him with evil red eyes. Nak was the first one to smile. "So, how goes your marriage thing?" The elf asked kindly as if the glowing-of-the-red-eyes had never happened.

"Uhh…well...it's not…really…" Sky mumbled, scratching his head in deep concentrating.

Nik sighed. "I told you we should've just gone ahead and brought the tornado, Flak."

"I know, but I was having too much fun over in Kansas!"

"I suppose we could make another one." Nik said.

Sky quickly objected to this statement. "Wait! Actually, I do have someone I want to marry!" He blurted out.

All six eyes turned to him. "Really? Who?"

Sky suddenly pictured a beautiful girl with golden hair and intelligent eyes…"I want to marry Flora!"

Silence followed. Someone coughed, and then Nik said. "Uhh…Sky, that wasn't one of the options."

"Well, can't you make an exception?"

"Nope. You either marry Nami, Celia or Muffy, and within the next four months or your time is up." Flak threatened.

Sky decided that this was the perfect time to panic. "And…what happens when my time is up?"

All three of them got their glowing red eyes. "Then you shall die!" And they all let out a maniacal laughter.

"Really?" Sky said, praying it was a joke.

"No, not really. But you will be forced to live in a hole and grow cabbages for the rest of your life while we permanently relocate your farm." Nak said cheerfully.

The thought was unbearable. "Ok, ok, no Flora. I'll get married, don't worry!"

They all smiled. "Very good. Harvest Sprites, out!" They said in unison and vanished before his very eyes.

Suddenly there was a moo from behind him. He turned around and found that Ali had jumped over the farm fence and was happily walking down the hill and towards town.

"Hey, come back!" Sky ran after the cow.

For a cow, it was amazingly fast. For every leap Sky took, the cow took two leaps. There was a horribly expensive chase scene as Sky ran after the cow all the way through the town and all the way across Forget-Me-Not Valley. Eventually, he managed to run directly into a large metal wall.

"Hey! That hurt!" He yelled at the metal wall. He then looked and saw that the metal wall was actually part of a small metal trailer, sitting right at the edge of Forget-Me-Not Valley. The cow was no where in sight.

"What hurts?" A voice called from within.

"Ahh!" Sky screamed and stood up, preparing his athletic feet to run.

The door to the trailer opened and a gigantic man appeared in the doorway. He had deeply tanned skin and bleached hair. He wore some type of motorcycle costume that was a few sizes too small.

"My name is Cody." The big man said gruffly.

"Uhh…hi…Cody. My name is Sky." Sky was shaking in his boots before the gigantic man.

"You have small cow, run like deer?" Cody asked.

"Yeah…did you see it?"

"Nope. Come inside, I show you pretty picture." He said, turned around and walked back inside, expecting Sky to follow.

"Uhh…good sir, you see…I have this cow and I really need to go and catch it so…" Sky almost jumped out of his skin when the man turned around and glared at him. "I show you pretty picture! Come!" Cody ordered.

"Yes sir!" Sky ran inside the trailer.

The trailer was small and cramped, and Cody was taller than the ceiling and had to duck just to stand up inside. The entire place was filled with strange metal sculptures and artistic pictures. A tiny bed was cramped in the corner and a kitchen was placed somewhere between two sculptures.

"I work on nice picture. You seem nice kid, so I show you nice picture." Cody said logically, walking over to a pile of canvases.

Not wanting to upset the man, Sky nodded enthusiastically.

Cody took out a half-finished picture. In it, he saw a cow. The cow was small and frail and frolicking happily on top of purple grass and under and mustard yellow sky. Black trees surrounded the cow and the cow was heading towards an orange pond. "You like?" Cody asked with a big smile.

"It's wonderful. You should definitely send it into the art museum." Sky said with gritted teeth. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth he may puke over that yellow sky and cause a stain, not that you would be able to tell the difference.

"Harvest Sprites come tell me to show you. They say you like yellow." Cody said.

"I love yellow!" Sky instantly said.

"Okay. I make sculpture this time. Your cow went to pond. Have fun catching cow." Cody said, waved, and shoved Sky out the door.

"Moo." Ali said from the pond.

"Ah ha! I'm going to get you now!" Sky said and began another very expensive chase scene after the cow.