Short Story: I Only Have Cow Eyes for You

My dad came home from work and found me sitting on the steps of our house with my head on my lap. He asked what was wrong. I told him that I had run out of excuses for not having found something really “cool” for show and tell.

“Papi, everyone in my class has already brought things that I thought of too late. If I don’t come up with something, I will not be allowed to see a Disney movie at the school assembly.”

“Mija, what about taking one of your toys?” he asked.

“No! Those are for babies and not cool for junior high!”

“What about a worm or spider?”

“No, Papi! That’s already been done. I want something really different and not boring! You don’t understand.”

“Go in the house and tell your mama,” he said. “I have to go back to the slaughterhouse to get something and to keep my dinner warm in the oven until I come back.”

When Papi returned he found mom and I in the kitchen. He handed me a package wrapped in butcher paper that was sticky. I asked, “What is this thing?”

He laughed in his typical boisterous manner.

“It’s your ticket to the Disney movie, Mija, at your school assembly.”

I cautiously unwrapped the slimy mystery package to find, to me and my mom’s horror, two very large and bloody cow eyes. I quickly dumped those eyeballs into the kitchen sink.

“Juan, are you crazy, Loco!” yelled my mother.

“Papi, that’s awful and not funny,” I said. “Why are you giving me this slime?”

He just laughed harder.

“No wonder you can’t find anything, how you say, ‘cool.’ It’s you who don’t understand. I’m trying to help you. I only have cow eyes for you to share.”

Then I got it!

“Thank you, Papi. That is perfect.”

My mother did not agree and called us both “loco crazies.” I thanked Papi with a big hug and promised to tell him all about my show and tell when I came home from school.

The cow eyes were a big hit at my show and tell. All the kids were excited to see it. (My teacher, well, not so much.) And I got to see the Disney movie in a front row seat.

Sharon Benson-Smith a member of the writing class offered through the Cerritos College Adult Education Program. It is held off-campus at the Norwalk Senior Center.