Grace Kobriger, 12th, Forest City High School, (Non-:iction

Grace Kobriger, 12th, Forest City High School, (Non-fiction)

"Fence"

I was walking through a thick and crowded brushway. The damp smell of the overgrowth of shrubbery and rain was heavy as I ducked past low hanging branches. The distant mooing of cows was peaceful along with the cool breeze and the gloomy sky. It had already rained once, but I knew it was going to rain again. It was some time in April, the wet season. The mud was like a stew and stuck to my shoes as I trudged through its sticky hands. Then something red peaked through the greenery of the mossy foliage as I reached the end of the thickets. A red rusted gate illuminated before me in the shade like a tall building; Too high for me to climb, since I was seven. One the other side of the red gate stood a small group of calves.

The calves stared at me apathetically, with their pitch black riveting eyes. I attempted to climb the red gate. The bars were huge and my little hands couldn’t wrap around any of them. My hands would slip on the wetness from the previous rain that coded the rusty bars like ice. I tried wrapping my arm around the bars, it worked, until I tried stepping on the gate, but I slipped. I saw the latch, but at the time I didn’t know how

to use it. I always thought it was magical that the gate would just open for my dad. Before I could get too frustrated, I caught the glimpse of a thinner section of the fence. It was a very dark grey that had barbs that pierced through every metal knot down the fenceline. I felt a flutter of hankering, despite the fence’s unsettling appearance, I still yearned to go play with the calves, which I did everytime I came out to my grandparents. I loved going out to my grandparents, it was like my own little get away for my imagination to grow. I could never sit still either, I was always the adventurous one, always exploring, always bringing back flowers and rock from my discoveries. Usually, the rust stained red gate was opened by my dad. Inside the first pasture, there were three little calf hutches. I would sometimes go inside them to check if there were any sleeping calves, occasionally there would be calves inside. But unfortunately, my dad was off doing other chores my grandpa assigned him.

My grandparents always enjoyed it when my sister and I came out, there were so many places to explore and things to do, since they had fifty acres of land. My sister was a lot younger than me and she had to be supervised a lot more than I had to be, but what was there to worry about out here?

After standing there watching the calves, one of the cows curiously came over to me. My grandpa named every cow he had, but I didn’t know the name of this one. I leaned forward, my little fingers wrapping around the cold crusty wire for support as I reached out to pet the top of her head, which her fur extended and curled like a truffle. A sudden, unpleasant, sharp sting made me release the wire and a bit of numbness rushed through my body. It was like when you were a kid and would slide down one of those plastic slides in the summer, and touch a metal pole right after, but this was ten times worse. I was a very emotional kid, so it felt like I was being electrocuted to death. I stood there for a second crying before running back to the house, my sudden movements and abrupt scream of surprise must have scared away the cows. Surely, I was frightened and would never wander around that biting fence again, but my parents had gotten busy after Saturday and we didn’t go back out to the farm for what seemed like an excruciating long time, when it was only last Saturday. Soon, the week flew by and next Saturday had strolled around. We were on the road, going out to my grandparents. I had already forgotten that traumatizing experience I had with the electrical fence, as the week was filled with hectic school that had grabbed my attention from last weekend.

After lunch, I wandered into the back yard, to explore, as any child would do. The barbed wire stood there, hidden amongst the thick foliage. Watching and waiting, like a predator about to pounce as it lured my curiosity in closer with a calf standing on the other side.