Cascade Cow Parade: Round Up
by Lila Kulp

"Everybody, listen up." At the sound of the captain's bellow, all activity in the bullpen stopped and everybody turned to hear what the captain had to say.

Once Simon was sure that he had everyone's attention, he continued, "Some of you may have noticed the sudden appearance of several uniquely... decorated cows around town. Well, my son here," Simon moved to put his arm around Daryl, only to have it shrugged off with an embarrassed look from the teenager, "my son has been given the assignment of using those cows in a photo essay for his photography class. The problem is that Casanova, here, managed to break his arm while trying to impress a girl by getting her cat out of a tree."

There was a round of "Way to go"'s, "Attaboy!"'s , and "That's our Daryl"'s upon hearing of Daryl's exploits.

Sandburg waited for the noise to die down before he added his, "Did you get the date?"

Before the young man could answer, Simon took control again, "As I was saying, with his broken arm, Daryl can't take the pictures. This is where you all come in. Daryl has gotten several disposable cameras and he would greatly appreciate it if you would help him out."

Daryl started handing out the cameras. "If you could just snap a picture of the statues when you see one, it would help me out a lot. It would be even better if you could get a person with the cow."

Each detective took a camera and gave his or her assurances that they would do whatever they could to help. Almost immediately the jokes began to fly.

"Hey Daryl, I know where there's a cow. How about we go get a picture of your father standing next to it?" Joel Taggart asked.

Daryl could barely contain his excitement as he and the two captains headed out of the bullpen. "That's great, what's the cow's theme?"

Joel looked at his friend over the head of the young man as he answered, "It's over by the Java Stop. It's called Mr. Cowffee."

THE END(?)

Like what you've read so far?

Join the Herd in Cascade!!

The Cascade Cow Parade (CCP) is actively seeking mooore cow stories!

The story requirements are simple: write a scene that includes a member of Major Crimes getting his/her picture taken with a Cow Parade cow. You get to describe and name the cow (puns are encouraged) and use the character/s of your choice. The series is intended to be humorous, but if someone wants to write a story with a murder scene by the CCP cow, that's fine, too.

Still unclear on the cowncept? Check out the official Cow Parade site at

http://www.cowparade.net

There are pictures of existing cows from various cities (for inspiration), an explanation of how the Cow Parade got started, merchandise, e-post cards and more!

Please email your stories to Sue at swell son@sbcglobal.net

Thanks in advance for your cowntribution!