The Cow Jumped Over The Moon

Two ten year old boys go exploring in the forests of central Alabama.  Nick carries a pellet gun and is keeping his eye out for four-legged varmints.  He hopes some day to become an Army Ranger like his oldest brother, Nate.  Eddie is an aspiring scientist.  While Nick chases rabbits and squirrels, Eddie goes at a much slower pace, carefully examining different kinds of trees and wild flowers which grow in abundance.  Their mothers have packed them a meal and each youngster carries a canteen filled with water.  They also equip themselves with a compass, flashlights, a whistle, pocket knives and even a couple of flares.  Despite their age, these boys are experienced woodsmen.  The majority of their summer vacation days are spent on outings like this one.

When the sun is directly overhead they know it’s lunchtime. Within minutes they reach a brook, the perfect place to take a lunch break and refill their canteens.  Nick unloads a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while Eddie feasts on a chicken drummie.  Suddenly they hear what seems to be the muted sputtering of a small plane, followed seconds later by the sound of cracking trees.  Then, silence.  The two boys stare at each other, knowing what they heard did not emanate from Mother Nature.  They grab their backpacks and dash in the direction of what could only be a crash.

In less than ten minutes they arrive at a ghastly scene.  A single engine Cessna lies in ruins, scattered in a dozen or so pieces across a small clearing.  The pilot, a man not much older than Nate, is sprawled on the ground, dying, a few feet away from the cockpit.  His body is bloodied and, for lack of a better word, wrecked.  It is clear to Nick and Eddie that the young man is not going to make it.  Eddie puts his canteen up to the pilot's lips, but he has no ability to swallow.  Understandably, the boys feel helpless and frightened.  The pilot moves his lips but it’s not until the boys draw within inches that they are able to understand him.  The poor soul then expires within a minute.

***

Three and a-half hours later County Sheriff Ross Cooper and a police chaplain, Reverend Herbert Monroe, are inside the home of the deceased and his widow, Amy.  While the two men deliver the terrible news to Amy, Nick and Eddie wait outside on the front porch.  The young mother of two children is devastated.  Sheriff Cooper and even Reverend Monroe are at a loss for words.  Tragedy like this doesn't happen much in their rural town.  Perhaps the NTSB will shed some light on the cause of the crash, but it will be another day or two before their investigative team arrives.  Even then, the thickly wooded countryside will present problems for evidence gathering.

After fifteen minutes or so Cooper and Monroe determine they have tried their best, albeit rather unsuccessfully, to give comfort to Amy.  The poor distraught mother can not stop crying.  Thankfully her sister Emily who lives in the next town will be there shortly.  Maybe she will have better luck.  As the two men gather their jackets Cooper asks, almost as an afterthought, if Amy would like to meet the two boys who were the first at the crash site.  They are the ones who had alerted the authorities.  If not for them, who knows how long it would have been before the accident was discovered?  Amy consents with a nod.   

At the sight of the lads entering her house Amy miraculously composes herself.  At first the three of them make small talk, remarkable under the circumstances.  Then Amy asks Nick and Eddie to describe how they came upon the scene of the accident and what they saw.  Sheriff Cooper, standing off to the side with the chaplain, pays little attention.  It is all information he has already heard.  But then Amy asks the one question that until then had not been asked: "Did my husband say anything to you before he passed?"

The sheriff, realizing his omission, listens intently.  Nick and Eddie look at each other.  The one heretofore undisclosed nugget of information they share seems trivial, nearly incoherent.  For a fleeting second they mutually consider telling Amy that the pilot died peacefully without speaking.  But just as quickly, through eye contact, they decide it's best to reveal what they heard, even if nonsensical.

Nick provides the answer.  "He said... he said, 'Tell her the cow jumped over the moon.' "

A transformation comes over Amy.  Her eyes swell with tears again and she comes close to gasping.  The boys think she is going to faint.  But wait!  Within seconds they realize that the tears she sheds are tears of joy.  In fact, she is now smiling.  The sheriff and the chaplain come closer, but they are just as bewildered as Nick and Eddie.

Amy puts a hand up as if to say "Give me a moment."  She gathers herself, and then she explains.

"Pete and I loved each other very much, but that doesn't mean we did not have our share of disagreements during the five years we were married.  We soon realized after most verbal spats that what we argued about was relatively insignificant.  But we were both kind of stubborn, each wanting to get in the last word.  On our first wedding anniversary we made a pact.  Rather than insisting on getting the last word, one of us would offer a truce by reciting the first part of a nursery rhyme.  If I said, "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall," and Pete replied, "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall," that would signal the end of the quarrel.  No winners or losers.  We'd never finished the day angry with each other, so I guess we were both winners.

"Early this morning before Pete left our house we had a bitter argument, the first one we'd had in a very long time.  He stormed out without even saying good bye.  I have felt miserable about it all day, even before Sheriff Cooper and Reverend Monroe came to my door.  Then when they told me Pete was dead, all I could think about was our quarrel and how I wished we could have a chance to make up.  But with the news of Pete's last words, Nick and Eddie, my sorrow is not nearly as deep as it otherwise would have been.  Thank you for letting me know what he said.  I shall be eternally grateful to you.  The dish ran away with the spoon."

*** ***

When I was a kid, possibly in grade school, there was an episode on a television show which told the foregoing story.  Obviously that story has stuck with me and has remained a favorite of mine over many decades.  I have attempted to reconstruct the story to match my memory, but for much of it I had to guess.  For example, I am not sure if there was one boy or two.  I certainly don't remember the characters' names or exactly where they lived.  All I can say for sure is that at least one boy found the pilot of a crashed plane, and just before he died he asked the boy to "tell her" that six word verse he recited.  When the boy (or boys) later speaks to the widow, he grants the pilot's request and the widow is overjoyed at the message.  She then explains their nursery rhyme agreement.

I am sorry to report that my crack three-person research team has been unable to track down the origin of that story, despite a valiant effort.  I would be happy to give credit to the author, but have been unable to ascertain even what program the story appeared on.  If anyone reading this finds out, please let me know.