Side Quests

Betty the Cow: 10, 60, 600 Word Challenge

I've been watching some of those 10 second, 1 minute, 10 minute challenges and I thought I'd try my hand at one. But instead of seconds and minutes, I am going to use words. Why? Because it would take me 10 seconds just to type "the cat," and that's not very interesting. So, it'll be 10 words, 60 words, 600 words.

10 Words
Betty liked to moo a lot. She's going to market.

60 Words
Betty the cow liked to moo. Everywhere she went, she mooed. The farmer didn't share her love.

One day, the farmer loaded Betty into the trailer for a special trip into town. Betty loved the trip and mooed even more. The farmer gritted his teeth and turned up the radio. Upon arriving at the butcher's he whispered, "Thank you, Lord."

600 Words
Betty the cow liked to moo. She mooed always. The farmer didn't share her love. The reverberating sounds of "mooo," soon drove the farmer insane.

One day, he had enough and loaded Betty into his trailer for a special trip into town. On the way, Betty mooed even more; she loved rides into town. The last time she went into town she won a blue ribbon. Apparently, the judges loved her moo (or at least that's what Betty believed). The farmer gritted his teeth and turned up the radio. Betty loved the tune and decided to sing along; she mooed even louder.

Finally, the farmer and Betty arrived at the butcher's. "Thank you, Lord," the farmer whispered looking skyward. It took less than 20 minutes for the farmer to sell and unload Betty—he was really glad to be rid of her. The farmer's truck kicked up clumps of dirt as he made his escape, laughing wildly the whole way. Betty sent him a "see you later" moo. Later, Betty would overhear the news that the farmer was now being sued for crashing his truck into another vehicle. Oddly enough, he won the case—it was some technicality—but the owners were poor, so the farmer's prize for winning was a brand new cow.

Betty made many friends in the following days: Gertrude the chicken, Willy the pig, and Samuel the bull (she found him extremely hot). Betty was so filled with joy that she began to moo even more than she already did. Even though her friends continually warned her that the louder, more annoying animals were first to go, she continued to serenade everyone with her marvelous moos.

Too bad she was the only one that found her moos to be musical.

One day, the butcher came into the holding area. He grabbed his axe and began sharpening it. He whistled a happy little tune while the cold, metal filled the area with sparks and a grinding, slicing noise. Finally, he finished and slapped the axe into a tree stump. Betty asked the butcher how his day was going—she was very polite in that regard—but all he heard was, "MOOOOOO!!!!" The butcher shivered at the sound then continued into his store, walking stiff and cursing the farmer under his breath.

Betty asked her companions what was happening. What was the axe for? Was the butcher also a woodcutter? Gertrude reported that the axe was for her. She was next on the menu, so to speak.

"What?!" replied Betty. "He kills animals?!"

"What part of 'butcher' did you not understand?" said Willy. "He's coming for you because he cannot stand your monstrous mooing. No one can stand it."

Tears began to form in Betty's eyes. "No one likes my moos?" She slowly faced the pen's wall and wept.

The next few days were full of Betty's moos but not the normal joyful sounds but wailing moos.

Finally, the day came. The butcher seemed much too happy for the task at hand. He imagined all the quiet and coin he was about to gain. Even Betty's so-called friends seemed to appreciate the day.

The butcher opened Betty's gate. She slowly walked out, defeated. The butcher had no problems leading her to the chopping block. The butcher raised his axe.

"Stop!" cried a tall man. "I am the famous maestro Bernardo. I have heard the sounds of this cow these last few days. Nothing has been more beautiful! Such raw emotion! How much do you want for it?"

Now Betty the cow had a new place to live...one where she could moo forever.

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Feel free to do your own 10, 60, 600 word challenge. You can leave the link to your story in the comments or submit it to "The Infinitus" magazine at https://wp.me/P7NVu3-iK‬.

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