07/15/2003: Who Will Milk My Cow? | |
An email survey reminded me of this memory I have, which I had written about before, so I dug this old entry out of my private on-line diary because it struck me as funny, and typical of my wierd decision making processes.
Who Will Milk My Cow?!
- 2/21/2000
Kindergarten. One of the most confusing times of my life, but it was confusing in an interesting and intriguing way. This was at the same school where I was too terrified of losing my sister. [...another entry, one I will also have to re-post some time..]
We took our first trip to the library. Exciting!!! You mean there were other books besides the Golden Books that came in the mail??!!! Cool! We sat down for story time and this young lady (I think she was really just one of the older student volunteers, but you know how it is when you're five, everyone older than you is an adult) sat in a tall chair, stooped over a small, bright blue book. We all sat around her in anticipation of the exciting story she was about to read us.. I was excited because it was a BRIGHT BLUE book!!!! Cool!!
She methodically read the story, and after reading each page she would generously pan the open book around the half circle of children at her feet so we could all see the pictures. Each time she did this I was annoyed... I wanted to see the cover of this BRIGHT BLUE book!!! Each time she turned the book back around to read I was eagerly pushing myself forward to get a glimpse of the brilliant cover. It was agonizing, I couldn't wait for her to finish so I could grab the book and ponder the colours on it. It was the brightest blue, almost the exact same colour as the Sky Blue crayon in my Crayolas.
Finally!! She finished the book, and explained how we could borrow books to take home, if we took good care of them... Would I even be allowed to borrow the BRIGHT BLUE book?? For how long?? Her voice continued her sing-song explanation of how to find books on the shelves, how to care for them, blah blah blah... would anyone like to take this book home? YES!!!!! Victory!!! I quickly went through the process of borrowing the book. I could take it home!! The BRIGHT BLUE book was mine!!
I had the book for a week... I loved it. The cover was aptly sky blue because it was indeed a sky, part of a picture of a little boy in blue pants and a read sweater, with a white and black-spotted cow, standing on the grass by a picket fence. An odd picture, I thought, but worth the beautiful blue. Not once did I open the book.
Finally it was time to take the book back to the library. I cried... I wanted to keep the BRIGHT BLUE book!!! I didn't want to give the book back, and finally the nice librarian recommended that since I loved the book so much, I could borrow it for another week. The librarian filled out the cards while she commented that it was nice to see someone enjoy a good story...
....STORY??
That night at home I begged my dad to read me the BRIGHT BLUE book... and he did... it was called "Who Will Milk My Cow?"
The little boy's grandma had a cow. She wanted to go away on a vacation, but didn't want to leave, because who would milk her cow?? Dad was too busy at work... Well then, who would milk the cow? Mom had to clean the house all day... so who would milk the cow? Farmer whats-his-face was too busy with planting or something, so who would milk the stupid cow?? The story went on and on and on... each page ended with the phrase, "Who will milk my cow??" The story made little sense to me, never having had a cow before... Of course, I did see the cover of the book in great detail, and therefore had my own solution.. why not get the little boy in the red sweater to milk the cow?? Each page, I was thinking... "..ask the red sweater-boy!!!" But grandma must have a few screws loose, because it wasn't until the end of the story that she got the idea.... Why of course!!! Little red-sweater kid would milk the cow!! Hurray!!!!
What a stupid book... I couldn't wait for Library Day so I could take the stupid thing back... It was a perfect lesson in "you can't judge a book by its cover..."
And for some weird reason, when I think of all the hundreds of books that I read as a kid (I became an avid reader after trying to find something better than the Cow book), the only one I can remember is the BRIGHT BLUE Who Will Milk My Cow? book. As a matter of fact, I might even pay just to see that cover once more... (I never did learn lessons very easily...)
