"Moo-oo-oo-oo!"

"Moo-oo-oo-oo!" by Laurence Donovan is a humorous urban short story written in the late 1920s. It follows a city traffic cop whose shy infatuation with a red-haired motorist turns into an unexpected connection when a runaway cow disrupts a crowded intersection. Officer James Emmet Corcoran times his day around brief sightings of a young woman in a silky roadster, nursing dreams he’s too humble to voice. One afternoon a crate spills a cow into his intersection, creating chaos he can’t quell—until the woman calmly steps out with a pail and stool, milks the distressed animal, and helps restore order. Corcoran fends off gawkers, tickets a leering chauffeur, and gets traffic moving again. When the cow’s owner reappears, the woman invites Corcoran to carry the brimming pail and see her home. She reveals she’s a recent transplant from the country, weary of city life, and welcomes him in for strawberries and cream, dissolving his class anxieties as their mutual warmth quietly begins.

Summary written by Project Gutenberg, by machine.