Story six
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Now you might think that we are always well behaved and that we never do anything wrong. Well, that’s not really true. Sometimes we are naughty - not bad naughty, just naughty. I do not like to admit this but mum says I have to tell you what she considers as being naughty. We think it’s fun.
Mum and dad went away for many days so other people looked after us.
Every morning at 7.30am, Jasmine and her grandma came to give us breakfast. Jasmine is 11 years old. Every day mum always counts our food; one, two and three as she puts it into each bin. I am number one of course. Jasmine also counted our food. Her grandma opened the gate for us to walk into the paddocks for a day full of adventure. We liked Jasmine. She gave us cuddles and told us how beautiful we are.
All day we were left alone until 4.30pm, when “D” came to organise our dinner. Her first job was to clean up our poo and check our water. Then she had to find us.
The first night we followed her back to our home as we do with mum. D brushed us and then gave us our dinner following the one, two and three count. She then went into the paddocks to open and close gates into different paddocks for us to play in.
The next night when D came there was a cool wind blowing and we wanted to play. Bentley had a long roll in the dusty soil. I then had a long roll in the soil. Angela just stood there and thought about it. Angela, Bentley and me then turned around and ran back into the paddocks we had just come from. We stopped for more play time under the trees. We were having the best time. D didn’t know what to do.
D found us and she had Angela’s halter in her hands. She slowly went up to Bentley and started rubbing his back and talking to him. Next she came to me and did the same. She then went to Angela who let D put the halter on. This time we knew we had to follow D. She made lots of “din-din” noises which mum does. Angela is always the leader and Bentley and me follow.
Angela began to feel bad that we had given D such a hard time. We decided to do what we were being asked to do. Once home and with the gate shut D cleaned our eyes, did lots of hugging and talking to us and gave us dinner. She was showing us that she wanted to be our friend. We like D.
Before Jasmine and her grandma arrived the next morning I pulled Angela’s collar off and left it on the ground. It’s a game I like playing. When they arrived they did not know how to put it on. It was so funny.
Another game I like to play is when mum is trying to put my halter on I grab hold of it in my mouth and won’t let go. Mum walks away and when I drop it and it becomes a race to put the halter on me before I can do it again. I love this one.
Angela, Bentley and me had long chats during that day on how we had probably been very unkind to D the day before. We decided to be good and come home when asked, which we did.
But … the next night when D came to collect us from our favourite paddock which has the best grass, we decided that we didn’t want to go home for dinner. D was calling us but we pretended not to hear her. This meant she had to walk halfway into the paddock but we turned our backs on her and kept walking. D then knelt in the grass and started playing with tussocks. I went over to see what she was doing. Angela followed. D patted my head and when she went to pat Angela’s head she turned and ran off.
Mum has this very special treat called donkey gum nuts which are so yummy to eat. D placed some gum nuts on the post near the gate and started to call us. Angela wasn’t interested. D started to follow behind us but we had to stop at the corner of the paddock so we tried to run back again. To our shock D held her arms high above her head and stated waving. We just stood there. Angela decided that we had gone too far and started to walk towards D. Bentley and me followed and we all walked home.
The next night when we heard D calling us for dinner we started walking towards her. We felt really bad at what we had done. We all began to cuddle D saying how sorry we were for being so naughty the night before. Angela stood in front of D waiting for her halter and we walked home without stopping. We continued to say sorry and Bentley was pushing Angela and me away so he could get closer to D. D was very happy.
For the following nights that D looked after us we did everything she asked us to do.
When mum and dad came home she told us what D had said about us:
“We are the most amazing, intuitive little beings she has ever had the pleasure of looking after. Challenging, thought provoking, deep and forgiving, happy and generous. She said that she was so fortunate to have experienced the wonder of us.”
Isn’t that nice?