PRE-Note:
For a couple of reasons I am sending out this year's Christmas story which I wrote for the kids: first of all the story was not completed until after Christmas because of some sort of bout with the crud which I experienced. Secondly, my printer has suddenly realized that it had exceeded the one year warranty by a few days and promptly malfunctioned. So in an effort to get the story down somewhere - I will place it here in five installments over the next few days.
Suddenly two figures were silhouetted by the moonlight that seeped into the opening of the meager stable; Mabel just kept on chewing her cud. She may have been quite startled but you would never know it to look at her. Her expression never changed come tragedy or triumph. She always displayed the same steady eyes and the constant working of her lower jaw.
It disturbed Irma that Mabel did not get excited. There were times that called for excitement and one should know how to greet those times with the sheer panic they deserved.
This was one of those times. The tranquility of their early evening had suddenly been disrupted by the intrusion of two humans into their domain!
Naturally, Irma got excited. And since she was a small hen, Irma did what excited hens do: she cackled and flapped and flitted about.
“Easy, girl” Mabel calmed, “it’s just two of them, and they appear to be about as afraid as you are . . . only without all the unnecessary noise.”
Soon, Irma settled down and they watched the two – a man and a woman – walk about as if they were searching for a safe and comfortable spot.
Finally, they decided on a soft little pile of hay and the man gently eased the woman down to the surface of the hay. He made certain that her robe was snug around her so she would be warm, and he tenderly caressed her hair for a moment.
That’s when Bert came into the stable. He entered a huff as usual. This time he was irritated about all the humans lumbering about. They were everywhere!
Bert was a sheep. Normally he would have been out in the fields with the rest of his flock – complaining about the state of things there. But as it was, Bert had to spend some time here in the stable. It seems that he had contracted some type of parasite and so he was set apart from the others until it was cleared up.
Bert was not happy about “being stuck” in that stable with all those “barn animals”, as he called them. Bert was seldom happy about anything. When he was in the open fields, he thought it would be much better to be inside; when he was inside, he felt that nothing would please him more than to get outdoors.
Before his recent return, he had left the stable because he was unhappy. Unhappy because he was hungry and no new hay had been placed in the trough. So he went out in search of a green snack.
Apparently the crowd of people in the village had trampled down any stubble of grass that might have previously been available for Bert. So he complained.
“People! They think they own the whole world! And do you think they would show one bit of courtesy to the likes of me – no way!” Bert grumbled loudly, “They seem to forget who supplied the wool for those clothes they smell up! I’ve had it with the whole lot of them!”
“All of them, Bert?” Mabel calmly inquired.
“Well all accept him.”
“Him? Who is he talking about?” Irma asked.
“You know - his shepherd.”
Irma remembered “oh yeah, that’s about the only human I have ever heard him speak of in a kindly fashion.”
While this conversation was going on, the man and woman had both nestled down into the pile of hay and were resting. Bert – who was unaware of their presence – decided he might enjoy nibbling on some of the hay in the same pile. Even though the hay was not fresh, perhaps it would “keep him from starving”.
Bert began to nuzzle into the hay, munching away. But he was quite surprised when he munched down on the ear of the man!
The man, who had just fallen into a fatigued sleep, was awakened suddenly by a sharp pain in his ear.
“OW!” he yelped and he turned to look the culprit right in the eyes – eyes that were equally as startled as his. The man instinctively responded with a sharp rap on Bert’s nose.
Bert fled into the corner with Mabel and Irma and plopped down in disgust, covering his throbbing nose with his paws.
“Dee bwhut I bean?” he said “day dink day owed da bworld!”
Mabel and Irma shared a grin and watched to see what would happen next.
Bert began to recover and raised his head as if sniffing the air.
“There, do you smell that? - that’s people! I’m telling you they stink up everything! Why I wouldn’t eat that hay now if you paid me . . . it’s all ruined!”
He went on to growl about how that man had no right to strike him when it was the man’s ear that got in the way of his snack!
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