Faith in Spout Springs

FICTION Faith in Spout Springs Angie Smibert Me and the missus could always find Faith out by them blue and ochre crosses. I didn't mind much when them fellas asked to put 'em in on the hill near the highway. They said it was our chance to witness our faith to the world, or at least the part that went down Route 460. It didn't cost me but a couple square feet of pasture land. It made the missus happy, too. She's always been active in the Spout Springs Church of Christ. Every Wednesday she heads down to the ladies' auxiliary meeting. The "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker is the last thing I see as she drives off. But that blame cow, Faith, had a real fascination with them crosses. Come evening milking, she was always off by herself, up to that little hill. She'd graze amongst the crosses, nibbling around the upturned earth at their bases. Me, I thought maybe she liked the view or the meager shade of the crosses. The missus thought it went a whole lot deeper than that. Doc Lilly, the vet from down Appomattox way, thought maybe she was licking the paint off the poles and got addicted to it somehow. So we wetted the poles down with kerosene. That didn't bother Faith none. It didn't keep her off the hillock, and her milk was off by then. No volume at all, and she'd been my best producer . About that time, the missus started going to the revival meetings almost every night. I even offered to take her bowling the other night, but she wouldn't have any of it. And she'd been league champ last year! A four-foot snow hit, and we had to keep the cows in. It kept the missus in, too. I thought it might improve the way the house looked, or at least it'd be the end of the TV dinners. But she just kept holed up in her bedroom reading scripture. The cow stopped giving milk altogether. Doc couldn't figure nothing to do. All the enemas in the world couldn't cure a fixated mind, he said. So I got rid of her. Angie Smibert, Blacksburg, Virginia, says she "makes a living as an environmental writer and editor." Her work has appeared in numerous U.S. Department of Energy publications as well as technological journals. 38 ...