When Charlie woke up that morning, he sat up in bed and at once remembered his fantastic dream. He had gone to bed early because tomorrow was a busy day. Tomorrow being today, of course. Pa was having all of the horses re-shod and he would need Charlie's help. Charlie had almost been asleep when he thought he heard the sound of a tractor chugalugging outside his window. Knowing the tractor was parked in the big red barn for the night, Charlie had peeked through his green curtains to see what was making the tractor-like noise. He thought perhaps one of Pa's friends had brought over a tractor that wasn't working right to see if Pa knew what was the matter. To his astonishment, he saw a tractor humming away near his window. But! It wasn't just any ordinary tractor. No Sir! It was a magical, flying tractor! It was a silvery color and had mechanical wings sprouting from either side. The fading sunlight caught the silver tractor and it looked dazzling, as if a hundred fireflies danced around it. It was beautiful to look at! Charlie restrained the urge to let out a slow whistle. Uncle Fred whistled like that whenever he saw something that beat-all. This was one of those times when one of those low, slow Uncle Fred whistles was really appropriate. The driver of the tractor was even more of a shock, if there can be more of a shock than looking out your bedroom window and seeing a magical, flying tractor. The driver was none other than Bernice the cow! The same Bernice that Mama milked every morning. The same Bernice that gave milk for drinking and butter making. There she was, all black and white spotted, wearing a green cap and driving the tractor like she drove a tractor everyday of her life! Could've saved Pa some work out in the fields if he knew Bernice could drive a tractor just like him. He could take shifts with her. Wouldn't have to work so hard that way. There Bernice sat. She didn't sit like a cow. She sat just like a person would sit if they were going to drive a tractor, and she was driving a tractor. Charlie felt his eyes grow about three sizes bigger than they normally were.

Bernice had waved to him and then waved him towards the tractor. Charlie very quietly slipped on his denim overalls, and then even more quietly opened his window just a crack to slip through, over the hedge, and onto the hard ground. His bare feet pitter-pattering across the grass and dirt separating him from the magical flying machine, he ran to the tractor and examined it from top to bottom. It was amazing! It was a tractor, but it was like an airplane too. The wings had cool fire bolts painted on them and there was a large golden horn that he wanted to toot on so badly, but he was sure it would wake his parents. That was something he definitely did not want to do! He didn't know why, but he was pretty sure his Mama would have something to say about him keeping company with a tractor-driving cow on a flying tractor in the middle of the night, when he should have been asleep because tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

"Pretty cool, ain't she?" Bernice bent over in the black leather seat, leaned towards Charlie and asked. Charlie bolted up straight away and almost knocked his noggin on the tractor's mirror because he had been so caught off-guard by the fact that Bernice just spoke to him. Whoever heard of a talking cow? Whoever heard of a talking cow driving a flying tractor? Charlie thought he must be crazy! She seemed like regular old Bernice the cow, however, just that she was now a talking regular old Bernice the cow.

"Uh, uh, yeah. Really cool." Charlie rubbed his hand over the shiny black tire nearest him. "Can it go really high? And fast? Can it go fast?" Charlie liked things that went fast. The closest to going really fast he had ever come was riding along with his cousin in his go-cart; but, Mama had caught wind of that and made him get off before he killed himself or at least broke an arm or a leg. It had been fun to go so fast!

Bernice nodded, then patting the seat next to her (which there wasn't much of left as Bernice was a very large cow), said, "Hop on up." Bernice handed him a handful of hay that she had been snacking on, and having nowhere else to put it, Charlie crammed it in his overall pocket. Bernice flipped a switch here and flipped a switch there. A red light glowed on the dashboard and a green light flickered near the steering wheel. Charlie assumed these must be part of the magic flying part of the tractor. He did not know what they were for, but they cast off a colorful glow in the dark night. All at once the magic tractor was hovering above the grassy ground, above the rows of corn and stacks of square bales of hay and straw. The wings quivered and the engine shook. Soon, they were rising higher and higher above the family farm. Charlie smiled from ear to ear. He couldn't believe his eyes! He looked down from his seat and observed the farm. He had been born here. He knew every nook and cranny, but never had he seen the farm from this point of view. The big red barn looked like a toy barn and the cows were teensy as plastic farm animal figures. It was amazing! He had never been so high in the sky in all of his life! This must be what it was like to be in an airplane. Looking down at ordinary things that looked like little ant-sized things instead. Charlie felt like a giant farmer looking down at a teensy little farm toy. He looked up at Bernice who said little and kept her eyes focused on the air before them. She was a very careful driver.

They zoomed about the sky here and there until the stars twinkled very brightly, and the moon shone radiantly white in the black night sky. Charlie felt very tired. The humming and the buzzing and the gentle swoosh swoosh of the tractor wings were doing a good job lulling him off to sleep. It was such a soothing noise to listen to in the still of the night. He leaned back and stretched, and yawned. His head drooped on Bernice's silky black and white spotted shoulder. Bernice looked down at the sleeping boy and zoomed down to his bedroom window. She turned off the magic tractor and scooping him up, hopped down from the seat and crept over to his half-opened window. The green curtains were blowing in and out and his nightlight shone bright in the dark room. She popped him through the opening and said, "Sleep tight, kiddo. See you again sometime soon."

Charlie remembered being very tired and stumbling into bed, leaving his overalls on the chair by the window, and pulling up the big thick quilt that his granny had made for him on his birthday last year all the way to his very cold nose. Now it was morning and he was so warm and toasty and so happy to have had such a wonderful dream. Flying tractors! A talking cow! Wow! What a dream.

Charlie rubbed his eyes, yawned, stretched and smiled. It had been a great dream! No late for school, forgot my homework, showed up to class in only underwear dreams for him! He had had a fantastic dream. One he wouldn't soon forget.


"Charlie! Breakfast!" His mama hollered from the kitchen. He could smell the bacon and eggs wafting to his room and floating up into the room from the crack under the door. He could hear more bacon sizzling in the frying pan and the clank clank of his daddy's fork against the china plate in the kitchen. Charlie sure was hungry!

Charlie jumped out of bed and pulled on his overalls. Reaching for the doorknob, he stuck his hand in the pocket and suddenly froze in his tracks. Taking his hand slowly out of his overall pocket, he looked down at what he had pulled out. It was a handful of hay. Bernice's hay. In his overall pocket, just where he had put it last night in his dream was a handful of golden, sweet smelling hay. Last night. In his dream. It had been a dream, hadn't it? Charlie ran to his window, yanked back the green curtains, and frantically looked outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of the wonderful, magical flying tractor and Bernice the talking cow.

The End

Angeline Hawkes-Craig's stories appear in several anthologies and fiction collections. She maintains a strong online presence as well as multiple print publications. Her Historical/Fantasy novel, The Swan Road, [Scars] was published in 2002, and was reviewed favorably in Renaissance Magazine. She is a member of the Horror Writer's Association. Her story, "Long Live the Queen" from Double Dragon Publishing's anthology, Femmes De La Brume, advanced to the preliminary ballot for the 2003 Bram Stoker Award in the Short Fiction category. A former teacher, Angeline has educational reading material scheduled for 2004 release with Childrenz Books. She is also currently working with San Min Books [Taiwan] for their high school equivalent educational reader program. Hawkes-Craig received a B.A. in Composite English from East Texas State University in 1991.Visit her website
www.angelinehawkes-craig.com.

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