If they wanna, you’re gonna! His father bought him a
dairy calf for his 4H project. The boy named the calf Snowflake. She was
mostly white in color with small blocks of black. The family farm needed
another milking cow, and when the calf grew up they were assured of getting
it. Over the months that the ten-year-old boy fed and cared for the bovine,
an attachment occurred between them. She reached her head through the fence
so he could scratch her head. She enjoyed the human attention. He taught her
to lead with a halter. Gradually the calf reached adulthood, growing large
in size. She would nuzzle the boy and lift him off the ground with her
strength. She was no longer that timid calf his father brought home only a
little over a year before that time.
One day after arriving home from school, the farm boy
heard a ruckus by the pens and went to investigate. Snowflake had gotten out
of her pen. The horses were disturbing her and she was ready to run to parts
unknown. Quickly the excited boy grabbed a halter and rushed to head the
calf off before she got into a larger pasture. Just then the horses spooked
the unyielding calf toward a barbed wire fence. As the boy watched in
wide-eyed amazement, she jumped over the top strand of barbed wire and
sailed effortlessly to the other side. By that time the boy’s father heard
the fracas and rushed to his assistance. They quickly cornered and caught
the frenzied animal before further damage was done.
"Son, go lead her over to the neighbor’s house so
she can be with his bull", the naive boy’s father said.
The neighbor had some teenage girls that were only a few
years older than the boy, and in the young man’s mind the idea was an
excellent excuse to visit them. Calf by side, they set off to their
destination. The neighbor lived about a half-mile away. On the beginning
part of the journey, Snowflake behaved excellently, following obediently
behind. About midway the pace quickened. At first the boy didn’t mind the
acceleration, but he quickly tired. Snowflake did not. By the time they got
to the neighbor’s pasture gate, she was practically dragging the boy. The
beast had become too much for him to handle. He took off her halter and
turned her loose in the pasture. Out of breath and wide-eyed with amazement
at the change in his calf’s demeanor, the boy stood, too shocked initially
to see the neighbor's teenage girls wander up behind him. "Wow,"
he exclaimed, unaware of their presence, "If they wanna, you’re gonna!
The event was so indelibly etched into the boy’s mind
that he never forgot it. It became an enduring lesson regarding the
persistent determination of the "gentler" sex. If they wanna,
you're gonna!