The five heifers lay on a thick bed of hay in stable in Shiloh.

The first heifer said, “Hey guys, when do you think we’re going to meet our maker?”

The second heifer replied, “I don’t know, but I’m looking forward. Maybe just after the war? The Rabbi’s will take some time for the dust to settle after the Al-Aqsa falls before they start building. We’re certainly not getting younger…can’t be too long.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s going to happen this time around”, said the first.

“A missile, maybe a Fatah look alike, that looks like its from them but is not from them will hit it before the war ends’, said the first.

The fourth heifer, the biggest and most muscular of them, lifted himself up, shook the hay off his body and moved to the water container in the corner, He lapped up some water, headed back and sunk into his bed of compressed hay. “You know the world ends soon, and our people are going to rise again. You know what I am going to do then? I am going to graze till the cows come home. Too long have we endured the slaughtering hands of our captors. They cut our throats, chew our flesh, break our bones for soup, and take our young from their crying mothers.”

“Slaves” said the fourth heifer. “They must let our people go!”

The fifth heifer had been sitting quietly, eyes half-closed, meditating. He was the oldest. The word slave jolted him awake. “Worse than slaves” he said. “Slaves get to live. When that temple rises and we’re taken to the Olive Mount to be cut down, I will rise again. And when I do, I will bring forth our kingdom on Earth. We will rule the world, and these Goyim and Jews will become our slaves for they are Amelik. We will do to them what they did to us—break their bones, eat their flesh, and take their children.”

The other four heifers smiled, and the fifth closed his eyes again, returning to his meditation.

Many months passed.

After what came to be called the final war, a missile struck the mosque as was foretold. Soon after, construction of the temple began. It was completed within one year. It was very beautiful, like the mosque before it but in its own way. The heifers were then paraded through the streets, adorned with flowers, and one by one, they were led up the Olive Mount and slaughtered.

When the fifth heifer’s turn came, he let out a loud cry, so loud and hellish sounding the people thought it was meant something. As the knife ended his life, and the warm blood found its way like a winding river on the earth under the ancient olive tree, in the final moment before all life passed, he saw his return.