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enjoy this writing from Brian Looney in the free 6" x 9" 2014 PDF file chapbook: I Love the Petting Zoo (click on the front cover image or the title text to download the free PDF file)

Order this writing in the book One Solitary Word the cc&d July - Dec. 2014 collection book		get the 402 page July - Dec. 2014 cc&d magazine issue collection 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

Elma

Brian Looney

    The lady bottle-feeds the calf. Elma suckles at the nipple. The rubber protrusion flexes at her hungry maws, while milky rivulets dribble down her eager neck and mat her clotted hair, giving it a sluggish appearance, like a swamp. At times, she closes her eyes, but never rests in feeding. The moistened nostrils flare and contract.

    The mouth breaks away. The tongue sneaks out and drapes the screw top, tastes the cool container, gripped, as it is, by gloves. Gloves worn, presumably, to assist the grip, to prevent the bottle from being wrenched away and swallowed. Such is Elma’s hunger.

    The crowd converges and the children point, fascination-exclamation. All would like to be the feeder, if only for a moment, if only to befriend the calf named Elma. And if they fell down dead right there, perhaps the calf would lick the sugar from their bluing lips, curiously paw at their eyes, or urinate indifferently upon their miniature, pubescent bodies.

    The lady bottle-feeds the calf, until the milk is gone. Then a friendly pat upon the head, and the gate is shut again, and the calf lays down to whimper in its sleep. The people trickle away. One boy remains, a dark-eyed child, and he wonders what its dreams are like...

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