He Was My Lucky Charm

• Imogen Batty, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2017

I was only 12 years old, I lived on a cattle farm when I was growing up and we muster cattle once every six months for pregnant testing. In the corner of my eye I saw a cow giving birth to a beautiful calf. He was gorgeous; he had a brown head with a white body and big black beady eyes. He was the cutest calf i had seen in a long time. (2 days later) Every time I saw him something great happened, he was like finding a 4 leaf clover every time, so I named him Clover.
(1 year later) Clover was growing fast and getting strong. He was a very playful calf. We chased each other around for hours each day, Clover was the best pet anyone could ask for. When I had a bad day at school, I would go and see him, and he cheered me up every time, like I never had a bad day, he was my cure for bad days at school. He could sense what mood I was in, if I was in a good mood; he made sure it stayed like that. Sometimes I went down to see him with story books, we would sit down and I would read stories to him.
(1 year later) Clover had grown to his biggest, with a big hump on his back and he was the strongest bull of all. That didn’t stop anything; we still ran around and had fun together. I had a Cattle Dog; she was let out every afternoon to go and have a run and stretch her legs out. Usually when mum forgot to lock her back up at night, she would go out into the cattle paddocks and she would chase the weakest one, pull it down and eat it.
(1 year later) One day after school, I went out to go and see clover. Then we started running around, and chasing each other. But then, Every time I looked back Clover was getting closer, and closer, and closer each time. Until, thump, he caught up to me and head butted me from behind, knocked me to the ground and trampled all over me. I then was rushed to the hospital, I was in there for a few days, I had cracked my skull, had serious concussion and minor bleeding in my brain. I was the rushed in for surgery. The next day I was let out of hospital. I came home and mum had forgotten to lock up the dog over night. So I went down to the cattle paddock and couldn’t find Clover anywhere. Until I went down the hill and saw him ripped into pieces. I ran back up to the house, balling my eyes out. I went and told mum and dad what had happened, and dad said “Remember, you almost died because of him”. But then I thought to myself, I am still alive because of him.