A Llama In The Family

A Llama In The Family — page 5 — Think about your cornﬂakes my father suggested suggested But who wants to think about cornﬂakes I thought about surprises It wasn’t my birthday That was over and done with last month I had turned ten I’d been begging for a new bike but I hadn’t gotten one in December or on my birthday Could they have ordered one for me now Better hurry my mother said interrupting my thoughts You don’t want to miss the bus If I missed the bus I’d have to ride my rusty old bike to school I grabbed my lunch bag and stuﬀed it into my backpack Tomorrow I thought excitedly when I had the new bike I’d ride it to school even if I didn’t miss the bus I’d want to show it oﬀ to everyone everyone I wondered what color it would be See you I shouted to my parents My little sister April was just coming into the kitchen in her pajamas pajamas Since she doesn’t go to school yet she doesn’t get dressed until she’s good and ready She took her thumb out of her mouth Bye Adam she called to me Then she stuck her thumb back where it had come from When I got on the school bus I sat down next to my friend Justin We almost always sit together Hi he greeted me Hi I said back to him Guess what I said wanting to share my good news with him I’m getting getting a new bike today

A Llama In The Family — page 6

A Llama In The Family — page 7 — Justin knew that I’d been disappointed not to get one like his on my birthday How come he asked sounding surprised It’s not a special occasion or anything I know But you can get presents even when it isn’t your birthday Then I remembered what my father had said I’m pretty sure I’m getting it today But if it isn’t today it will probably be tomorrow Justin nodded his head Did you study your spelling spelling he asked I saw he had his notebook open I’d gone over the words at home and was positive I knew them all So while Justin studied I looked out the window I live in Vermont and it’s very beautiful in May The snow is ﬁnally gone from the sides of the roads with only the tiniest bit still up on the ski trails on the mountains The mud has dried up and the trees and ﬁelds are just turning green after the winter But I wasn’t admiring the view that morning And although I aced the spelling quiz we had before lunch I didn’t spend much time thinking about schoolwork either I kept waiting for the day to be over and for my new bike I just wanted to jump on it and take a long ride When school ﬁnally ended and the bus dropped me at my stop I ran the last part of the way along the dirt road As I reached the wood fence surrounding surrounding our property I thought I should act cool I should

A Llama In The Family — page 8 — pretend that my mother hadn’t slipped and mentioned mentioned anything at breakfast I should act surprised So I slowed down and walked rather than ran toward our house Hi Mom I shouted when I saw her walking across the yard I’m home April came running toward me Adam Adam Come and see she yelled You’ll never believe it At that moment I felt so happy I knew my bike had arrived This really was the day But I remembered to keep calm What is it April I asked pretending I didn’t know I’d let her have the thrill of showing me the bicycle I took oﬀ my backpack and threw it on the porch Then I followed April She grabbed me by the arm and took me around the back of the house I thought the bicycle must be in the stable But standing outside our stable was one of the weirdest animals I’d ever seen I stopped in amazement It wasn’t a horse or a sheep It looked a little bit familiar Maybe I’d seen one when we visited visited the Washington Zoo a few years ago Or maybe I’d seen a picture of one in a book at school I turned to my mother who had joined us Is it ours I asked bewildered Nothing like this had ever been on our property before My mother nodded her head as she patted the hairy back of the creature Yes Yes Yes cried April jumping up and down

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