A Flash of Fiction

Animals
It’s a sultry night and sleep will not come.
I slip out of bed and out the back door to see if a tromp through the pasture will cool my heels. Despite the hanging humidity, the grass is cool, dewy.
I reach the rise of the hill to peek at the waning moon and come to an abrupt stop. There in the pasture are most of the farm animals, arraigned in a semi-circle around our plow-horse, Romeo.
He’s reading from a battered, leather-bound book.
He stops and all the animals cast their eyes in my direction; in the moonlight, they appear as a greenish, electric-candy glow.
Belle, out boarder collie, trots over slowly and sits at my feet.
“Don’t be alarmed,” she says.
I’m the one rendered speechless.
“Please, join us,” Romeo says, shaking his great chestnut mane.
“Yes, pleaaaase, join us,” say the lambs, in unison.
I take a seat, mindful that I’m in a pasture full of farm animals, next to Belle. I run a hand through her silken fur as Romeo clears his throat and picks up where he left off.
After several minutes, I lean into Belle’s ear and whisper.
“The Bible, seriously?”
“If you’d just think about it, it makes perfect sense, don’t you think?”