Unbullievable

  The sound of hoofs pounding the ground surrounded young Luke. He rode his stocky steed, desperately attempting to round up the herd of disrupted sheep. As he turned the horse in each direction to guide them into their pens, the bleating sheep scattered everywhere and began running in the wrong direction. This had been occurring repeatedly for the past hour.

  "At least", he thought to himself while wiping his wet forehead, "now my legs and arms no longer ache, to which I can thank this terrifying and unbelievably bouncy horse. So thank you,  you ghastly creature. Thank you."

  It had been a hot, sunny day and Luke could feel the pain of sunburn. Beads of sweat rolled down his skin. His fair complexion and wiry body were not built for a hardworking farmer’s son such as himself, but his father had no patience for wimps. Today he was to herd the sheep whether he liked it or not.

   The scrawny boy pulled himself out of Jock's saddle for a rest. He thought it must have been at least 11 o'clock by now . As he swung one leg over the horse’s back and went to pull his other leg out of the stirrups, his left boot twisted and got caught in the contraption which then trapped his foot. Hopping on one leg and trying to free himself without losing balance proved to be yet another difficult task. Clumsily, he began to ease it through the stirrup and stand up freely.

  Luke took a moment to congratulate himself of his triumph of not falling over this time. He turned and bowed to the horse. If Jock were to have eyebrows, she would have raised both but instead she just whinnied mockingly.

  There was a sudden sound from behind them. The sound of snorting. It was the sound Luke knew well. The sound of hoofs pawing at the ground. The sound of Chuckles the bull.

  Luke turned slowly. He recognized the sound of their angry bull. Chuckles was a 12 year old Limousine bull. In other words; a big, very angry, incredibly fast, extremely dangerous and muscular brown beast that could potentially shred Luke to pieces. Chuckles and Luke had had many encounters before this. Luke had come to the conclusion that this evil creature was determined to punish him for some peculiar reason.


 "Oh hello there old friend. I don't suppose you just have a sore foot today?" Luke inquired while judging the distance between himself and Jock, his not so trusty steed. Luke came to the realization that he had less faith in himself managing to jump on the horse and ride off, then he did in getting away by completely legging it. So he bounded through the fields faster than the horse possibly could have, or so he thought.

  That's it. My life is over. And I was so young too. I had my whole life of sore legs and sheep herding ahead of me. But now, nothing.


   The bull charged ferociously. It ran past Jock who sat there chewing on the grass not taking any notice.

  I have a great singing voice. Maybe I should have taken up a career in entertaining! Oh well too late now. Luke continued thinking his last thoughts. He started singing a lullaby his mum used to sing to him before he went to sleep in his head then. "That would have gone wonderfully with a banjo!" He yelled as the idea sprang to his mind.

  The bull was gaining on him but they had already done this so many times that Luke had decided to accept his fate. He stopped at the large fence and turned to see the beast gaining on him. There was no escape. He shut his eyes tightly not wanting to see the terrifying beast that was about to bring him to his ultimate death.

  Luke counted in his head, waiting for something to happen. The bull came to a sudden stop. Confused by the disruption of the fatal blow, Luke opened his eyes to see what had happened. To his amazement he was on the other side of the fence. The wooden fence was all twisted like a small piece of wire but unusually large in some places. Some of it surrounded the bull in an enclosed space, not giving it room to run or jump. Chuckles pawed around in panic, not understanding how it was possible. Luke was wondering how this was possible too! This made no sense.

  "What have you done you useless boy?!" The surprised yet once again frightened boy heard the sound of his disapproving father’s grating voice.

  "Oh, you know...putting the animals where they belong..." he replied resignedly. This is going to be a long day, he thought.