A Leap of Faith

Luna, the cow had heard the story of Icarus, knew its tragic ending, and all the TV talk shows she watched confirmed its moral: too much sun would kill you.

Instead, Luna’s focus was on the moon, and that other story, “Hey Diddle Diddle.” Most of it never made much sense to her, read like a psychedelic road trip through whatthefuckever, but the part about the cow jumping over the moon always fascinated her. Everyone who ever heard the tale knew what the cow had done, but no one ever asked where the cow had been going. Luna wanted to know. Did the cow ever get there? Was the cow happy?

Luna knew there had to be more than just that moment of mythical jump. And so, from the moment she first heard them, those six little words, and the cow jumped over the moon, shaped Luna's fate forever.

Luna started studying astronomy. She studied geology, astrophysics and even astrology. She plotted potential trajectories, planned take-offs from every imaginable angle and height. She even wrote to one rocket scientist who worked for NASA for a little expert advice, but he never bothered to respond. Humans were rather rude that way.

One day, there was nothing left to plan, no graph left to make, no course left to chart. She had provisions. She had an oxygen tank. She had NOS-injected propulsion sneakers that she had designed herself to help with liftoff. Luna was finally ready to make her jump over the moon. And yet she was terrified.

Somewhere in the back of her mind was this little voice that kept telling her it was all for nothing. That that story was just a childish fairytale. That no cow ever jumped over the moon. That no cow ever would. That she was going to fail.

Luna stared at that moon for one more night. Just stared at it. She knew she had to try. Despite her doubts. Despite her fear. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t at least find out. If she failed, well, then at least she would know for sure. But if she didn’t try, she would always wonder. Luna couldn’t live with that.

So the very next night, Luna headed out into the field. As she stared at that beautiful glowing orb of destiny, she did a quick mental inventory. All systems check. As Luna began her run, it was so quiet she wondered if the whole world was holding its breath in anticipation. Then she realized she was, and took a deep breath as she picked up speed. Faster and faster she ran, finally she kicked the NOS switch and leapt.

Luna was flying.

As she rose higher and higher, she looked down at the world she never felt truly part of, at how small it seemed, and smiled. She had always known she was destined to be a star. And she had been right.

A few moments later, Luna’s hooves touched down on the powdery surface of the moon. And she bounced. It was the strangest feeling of her life.

Luna giggled like a school calf as she pranced across the surface of her dream. Finally she stopped, looked out at the universe, and laughed to herself. It wasn’t a fairytale after all, though it was a bit inaccurate. A cow did not jump over the moon. A cow jumped onto the moon. Luna laughed again as she looked back at her footprints definitively depressed into the dusty, powder-like surface.

Finally, Luna looked down at Earth. She knew there was no way she could ever return. That was another life, another time, another world. No, her place was here. She only wished she could tell everyone down there that it wasn’t a man in the moon anymore, that it was a cow. That’s when the idea struck her, and she smiled as she let out a Earth-shattering “Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”