The meadow and sky were digital, having the fuzzy electric glow around the edges like a television screen. Images flashed by like a deck of cards, an MTV visual assault. National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, Wild Kingdom. The Sudan. A dry tan prairie with a Joshua tree. Snap back to the meadow.

A cow stood in the meadow. Solid, thick, seemingly a statue. From offstage to the right, an unseen catapult flung another bovine into the air. It spun through the sky, unmoving, and landed on the other cow. They immediately began to mate. I was reminded of some Monty Python cardboard cut-out animation sequence. More cows were flung into the meadow, until there was a writhing mass of mooing creatures there in a single mound.

Grumbling, an undercurrent of narration spilled along in the background, as though the whole display was a nature documentary. I felt embarrassed. I turned away.