For a cow, Sue Ellen had a mind of her own. When the other cows mooed, Sue Ellen whistled. When Max gave an order, all the cows snapped to attention – except Sue Ellen. She just swished her tail, batted her lashes and picked daisies.
One day in early spring, Max put up a sign in Sue Ellen and Lisa Jean’s favorite pasture.
“Humph,” Sue Ellen said. “Max is not the boss of me.” With that, she hooked tails with her little sister, Lisa Jean, and they sashayed home.
Sue Ellen could hardly wait to tell her parents about Max’s sign.
“The bluebonnets won’t come back next spring if you eat them,” her father said.
“But Dad, we eat the grass, and it comes back,” Sue Ellen argued.
That’s true,” replied her father, “but the bluebonnets won’t come back.”
Having a mind of her own, Sue Ellen wasn’t totally convinced. The next day, when Sue Ellen and Lisa Jean arrived at the pasture, the bluebonnets were just starting to pop up everywhere. Sue Ellen’s mouth watered.
“Don’t forget, we’re not supposed to eat the bluebonnets,” Lisa Jean reminded her.
“I’m not eating them. I’m just looking at them,” Sue Ellen said, licking her lips.
As they stood in the pond, Sue Ellen stuck her nose in the air and took a deep breath. “Don’t the bluebonnets smell yummy?”
“Don’t eat the bluebonnets,” Lisa Jean reminded her.
Sue Ellen licked her lips again, “I’m not eating them. I’m just smelling them.” She swished her tail. “Water comes back to the pond every year, doesn’t it?” she muttered.
Later, as Sue Ellen and Lisa Jean were grazing in the shade of the big oak tree, Sue Ellen noticed one small, perfect bluebonnet. It looked delicious. Her mouth watered.
“Don’t eat the bluebonnets,” Lisa Jean reminded her.
Sue Ellen stuck her tongue out and licked the perfect flower. “I’m not eating it. I’m just licking it.” She looked up at the trees and swished her tail. “The leaves on the trees come back every year, don’t they?” she muttered.
“Babies come back every spring too, don’t they?” Sue Ellen muttered when she heard the chirping overhead. Mollie Mockingbird, who lived in the big oak tree, was teaching her babies to fly.
“I guess they do,” Lisa Jean said as they watched each bird leave the nest and return safely.
By the end of the week, the bluebonnets were everywhere and Sue Ellen couldn’t stop thinking about them. She imagined how the petals would taste sliding down her throat. Sue Ellen thought and thought and thought. And with that, she strolled into the pasture and ate every single bluebonnet.
Sue Ellen was so full she had to sit under the big oak tree and take a nap.
When Sue Ellen opened her eyes, Max was standing over her.
“Humph,” said Max, “Somebody’s been eating the bluebonnets!”
“So what? They’ll just grow back next year.”
“Sometimes nature needs some help,” Max said as he handed Sue Ellen a packet of seeds.
“We’ll just wait and see,” said Sue Ellen.
So they waited.
The spring faded.
The summer came and went.
In the fall the leaves fell.
The winter chill blew in from the north.
Sue Ellen and Lisa Jean thought the day would never come when the bluebonnets would be back. Then the days began to grow longer and the snow started to melt.
When the spring grass grew so tall that it tickled their bellies, they knew it was time to head to their favorite pasture where the bluebonnets grew.
Before they reached the pasture, they saw Max carrying the don’t-eat-the-bluebonnets sign.
All the cows glared at Sue Ellen. Having a mind of her own, Sue Ellen decided to take charge. “If the bluebonnets won’t come back on their own,” she said, “I’ll create them.” With that she swished her tail and trotted off. Sue Ellen rounded up her paper, paints, and scissors and headed to the pasture. The next day, the field was alive with paper bluebonnets that Sue Ellen had made herself.
That night a Texas-sized thunderstorm woke everyone up. Lightening lit up the sky, the thunder boomed, and the rain soaked the ground. When Sue Ellen and the other cows got to the pasture in the morning, the paper bluebonnets had been blown away.
So, having a mind of her own, Sue Ellen decided to take charge. That night, she went to the pasture and planted the seeds Max had given her.
“I guess only real bluebonnets are the blue of the sky. And only real bluebonnets have that wonderful smell. And only real bluebonnets are worth licking,” she said.
When spring came again, Sue Ellen took out her paints and freshened up Max’s sign. “Max,” she said, “Will you please put the sign up again?”
He laughed. “There’s no need, the bluebonnets won’t be back.”
Having a mind of her own, Sue Ellen decided to take charge. She took the sign and planted it firmly in the ground where Max had put it before.
It wasn’t long before their beautiful pasture was filled with bluebonnets.
Having a mind of her own, Sue Ellen decided she could
...look at the bluebonnets
...smell the bluebonnets
...lick the bluebonnets...
but she could not eat the bluebonnets.
Copyright © 2005 by Ellen Leventhal and Ellen Rothberg