A Llama In The Family

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

A Llama In The Family — page 9 — What is it A llama April shouted She was so proud to know something I didn’t Where did it come from It couldn’t have just walked across a ﬁeld I’d never seen any llamas around here On a truck When you were at school I went closer to investigate the strange creature It was white with a dark patch on its rump It wasn’t as tall as I am but it had a long neck so I had to look up to see its head I looked at the big black eyes that looked back at me with a sad expression In a way the long neck reminded me of the camels I had seen at the zoo But the llama didn’t have any humps It turned away from me and chewed on the grass near its feet Llamas usually live in South America in Peru my mother said Their hair is used to make wool and they are good at carrying things What are we going to do with this one I wondered wondered aloud My mother doesn’t even like to sew buttons so I couldn’t imagine her making wool And my father has a pickup truck so I didn’t think we needed the llama to carry stuﬀ I have a plan my mother said I’ve been thinking thinking about starting a business for a long time I’m going to advertise that people can go on a hike with the llama I’ll pack a lunch for them and they

A Llama In The Family — page 10 — can have their pictures taken with the llama too I think tourists will love it They’re always looking for something new to do when they come here on their vacations As she spoke I tried going up to the llama But it kept walking a few steps away from me I guess it was afraid of me or shy My mother took hold of the halter around the llama’s head so it couldn’t move Here she said Feel The llama’s back felt like my head when I need a haircut It was covered with a thick coat of long hair It wasn’t like the tight curly hair on Mr Harris’s sheep Mr Harris lives a couple of miles from here and he has two dozen sheep I wondered what he would say when he saw this new animal of ours I’ve been thinking about a good name for him my mother said That’s when I found out this llama was a boy Snowie or Woolly I suggested That’s what he was white and woolly No A Vermont llama should have a Vermont name I think we should name him Ethan Allen What do you think of that I’d learned about Ethan Allen at school He fought in the Revolutionary War as the leader of a troop of brave men called the Green Mountain Boys He had a brother named Ira who fought with him There’s a motel about twenty miles from here named after

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