Might Become Friends

This made me smile.

Excerpted from The Human Comedy by William Saroyan, ©1943:

Ulysses Macauley was up very early, skipping through the morning's first light to the yard of a man who owned a cow. When he reached the yard, Ulysses saw the cow. The small boy stood and watched the cow a long time. At last the man who owned the cow came out of the small house. He was carrying a bucket and a stool. The man went straight to the cow and began to milk. Ulysses moved in closer until finally he was directly behind the man. Still, he couldn't see enough, so he knelt down, almost under the cow. The man saw the boy but did not say anything. He went right on milking. The cow, however, turned and looked at Ulysses. Ulysses looked back at the cow. It seemed perhaps that the cow did not like to have the boy so close. Ulysses got out from under the cow, walked away, and watched from near by. The cow, in turn, watched Ulysses, so that the small boy believed they might become friends.