By Mike Blackwell

Page 1
Minerva does not like fences.

Page 2
The fence keeps Minerva high atop Bald Mountain, where the sun is warm, and the mornings are cool, and the winds have blown all the trees away.

Page 3
No one ever comes to the top of Bald Mountain.
And Minerva never goes to the bottom.

Page 4
Minerva can't get past the fence.
Minerva is the lonesomest, blue-eyed, blue-spotted cow in the world.

Page 5
Minerva looks down into the clouds far below.
Sometimes, just for a minute, she sees the tops of trees.

Page 6
Once she saw a bird fly above the clouds.
And a squirrel stuck his face toward the sun.

Page 7
A fox ran and chased his tail.
A bunny munched on wet grass.

Page 8
then the cloud came back and covered them all.
Minerva always hoped the bird and the squirrel, the fox and the bunny, would come see her.
But they never did.

Page 9
Nothin ever came to say hello atop Bald Mountain.
Minerva was so alone she would have cried, but Minerva never learned how.

Page 10
All she ever heard was the wind.
the wind blew so hard.
The wind blew so cold.

Page 11
One day, the wind blew a hole in the fence.
Minerva could not believe her eyes.

Page 12
She walked through the hole, and no one stopped her.
Minerva was still a lonesome, blue-eyed, blue-spotted cow.

Page 13
But Minerva was free to go where she had never been before.
Minerva walked into the cloud.

Page 14
On this day, the cloud smelled funny.
The cloud burned her nose.
The cloud made her eyes water.

Page 15
A blue bird suddenly landed on her nose.
The blue bird had tears in his eyes.

Page 16
"Fire!" yelled the blue bird.
"All the trees are on fire!
My wings are burnt, and I can't fly!"

Page 17
Minerva looked toward the sky.
The sky had turned black.

Page 18
Fire leaped from a tree limb.
Smoke made it hard for Minerva to breathe.

Page 19
"Stand on my back," Minerva told the bird.
"I will take us home."

Page 20
"Where is home?" asked the bird.
"On top of Bald Mountain," said Minerva.

Page 21
"Where is the top of Bald Mountain?" asked the bird.
Minerva did not know.

Page 22
The black smoke blinded her.
Minerva could not see.

Page 23
But as long as her front feet were higher than her back feet, Minerva knew she was walking up the mountain.

Page 24
And somewhere up the mountain was home.
A robin fell from the smoke and set on Minerva's back

Page 25
The squirrel grabbed her tail and hung on.
The squirrel was black with soot.

Page 26
Minerva stuck her head above the clouds.
Home was just beyond the fence.

Page 27
The bunny hopped beside her, and the fox ran far ahead, and the creatures of the forest came, one by one, following her home.

Page 28
The beatles and turtles and frongs, the lizards and mice . . .

Page 29
and even a long crooked snake with three crooked little baby snakes.

Page 30
The hole that let Minerva out let Minerva back on top of Bald Mountain, where the sun was warm, and the morning was cool and the wind blew the black smoke away.

Page 31
Minerva looked around at her friends.
She was still a blue-eyed, blue-spotted cow.
But Minerva wasn't alone.
She wasn't lonesome anymore.