Page 21 - Publishing Inspiration Christmas Card 2022

was against the floor, but he wasn’t seeing much, if any, effect. He
was still heading at a good clip toward the feeder.
Realizing he was going to run over the feeder, he veered off.
The hill was coming up fast, so he tried to turn the tractor along the
hill rim, but a deep canal blocked his path. The tractor had only
slowed a little before it went over the edge of the hill.
On the downward slope, the tractor picked up speed. Seth
pumped the brakes, but there was still no effect. He tried to use the
engine to slow the tractor. He throttled down and let off the clutch.
The tractor sputtered and smoked and slowed a bit, but the clutch
started to slip.
At the bottom of the hill was a deep swamp. Seth knew if he
went into it, the tractor would sink nearly out of sight. He looked
desperately for a way out of his predicament. That was when he saw
the old tree stump. He turned the tractor toward it and lowered the
bucket.
The cows had heard the tractor and were coming up the hill to
eat. Seth yelled at them to get out of the way. Most of them did.
But as cows always seem to do, one on the right side of the tractor
decided she had to dash across to the left. There was nothing Seth
could do. The tractor hit her, rolling her most of the way to the
swamp. But as he hoped, the tractor also hit the stump and came to
an instant stop.
Seth took some deep breaths, put the tractor in reverse, and
backed up the hill. He carefully loaded the hay in the feeder, then put
the tractor back in the hay yard. Finally, he went to check on the
injured cow. But as he came close, she limped away on three legs at
a dead run, looking like a drunken peg-legged sailor in a life-and-
death race. Seth couldn’t get close enough to check on her no matter
how he tried. He decided if she could run like that, she would live,
and he left to meet his friends.
A few days later, the neighbor stopped by to thank Seth for
his work. “You know, it seems like every time I leave, one of the
animals has trouble. Old number fifteen is so lame she can hardly
walk. It appears she slipped and rolled down the hill.”
Seth just left it at that.

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