Farmer Brown's Menagerie, page 2
                                                  

     The next morning, Farmer Brown did not even try to milk his tigers. Instead, he got in his pickup truck and drove all the way across the county to visit his best friend, Henry.
      Henry was sitting on the rocking chair on his front porch when he saw Farmer Brown coming up the steps.
      "Mornin', Farmer Brown!" shouted Henry.
      "Say!" Henry added when his friend got closer. "What's the matter with you? You look beat!"
      "I must be gettin' old, Henry," replied Farmer Brown. "Every mornin', by the time I finish milkin' my tigers, collectin' the eggs from my crocodiles, and shearin' the wool off my gorillas, I'm plumb tired out!"
      Henry's mouth opened wide and he looked at Farmer Brown with a such surprise that you might have thought his whole head was gonna pop off his neck and shoot up into space!
      "You ain't gettin' old, Farmer Brown," replied Henry when he could talk again. "You just made a little mistake! Tigers...and crocodiles... and gorillas... ain't farm animals! Them's zoo animals!"
      Now it was Farmer Brown's turn to open his mouth wide. His forehead wrinkled and his eyes got a wild look.
      "Well I'll be!" he finally said. "So that's it! Doggone, I knowed I was doin' somethin' wrong!"
      Henry made lunch for the two of them. They ate and talked about the old days, and then Farmer Brown got back in his pickup truck and drove home across the county.
      When he got to the front gate of his own farm, he got out his big black
magic marker and changed the sign, so that instead of saying:
     
                                
 it now read:
    
                               

         After thinking for a minute, Farmer Brown added something else:

                                
                             

     Before long, people began coming from miles around to see the wild animals—and paying good money, too.
     Farmer Brown put up a few fences so the people could see the animals safely and vice-versa. Then, when he'd saved enough money from all the admission fees, he went out and bought himself —a cow, a few chickens, and some nice little sheep.
      Every morning now, Farmer Brown would get up and milk his cow. Then he'd collect the eggs from his chickens. After that, shear the wool off his sheep. Even after feeding all the zoo animals too, he'd still have plenty of energy left when the day was over.

     Farmer Brown went out to the front gate and changed the top part of his sign one more time, so that it now read:

                                  

     He and his twin menageries lived happily together for a long, long time.

© 1990, 2004 by Max Reif