A LAMB NAMED SCAMPER

By Grandma Nonie

"Mother, Daddy! Mr. Frank asked if we want to raise a baby lamb! May we please take him?" Jamie shouted, running into the house. Jamie's younger brother, David followed her into the house.

"Please, oh please, may we have the lamb?" He begged, "Mr. Frank said we can if you say it's OK." Mr. Frank, the man in charge of the sheep had a mother sheep that couldn't take care of her newborn lamb.

Mother looked thoughtful as she answered, "Well, I suppose it would be all right."

"You know that raising a lamb can be a lot of work," Daddy added, "You will have to do most of it yourselves."

"Oh, we will! We will!" they both shouted at once, clapping their hands and jumping up and down.

"You do know," Mother said, "that when he is a big sheep he has to go back into the field with the other sheep." Jamie stopped jumping around.

"We know, Mother, and we will let him go when he grows up," nodded Jamie. David agreed. "Oh, we will, we will," he said. They looked out to see Mr. Frank coming through the gate with the lamb.

"Well, here is your baby," He said, smiling. Then he told them what had to be done and how to do it. "The lamb is just a few days old and will need a lot of care," he added.

David and Daddy prepared the shed that was to be Scampers home. They spread some clean straw on the floor for Scamper to sleep on. Watching the little lamb, David said, "He sure bounces around a lot!" Daddy smiled, and put his hand on David's shoulder.

"Look!" Daddy said, "Watch how he scampers around the yard." Jamie ran over to give the lamb a hug.

"Let's name him Scamper!" She said, as she lovingly patted him on the back. So Scamper became his name.

Jamie helped Mother prepare the formula that was to be Scampers dinner.

Mother poured it into the special bucket Mr. Frank had given them. It had a nipple at the bottom on one side for Scamper to drink from.

Jamie said, "I get to feed him first!" Mother gave her the bucket. Jamie took it to Scamper and held it up just so. Scamper drank all of the milk very quickly, and all the

time he was drinking, he was wriggling his little tail. Because he had to be fed every few hours, they took turns feeding him.

"David, will you get your wheelbarrow and help me?" Jamie was cleaning Scampers house. David ran to get his wheelbarrow. After taking away the soiled straw, they put clean straw on the floor for Scamper to sleep on. Scamper was trying to get into his house while they were cleaning. "He wants to see what we are doing to his house!" David said, laughing at the little lamb.

As the days went by Scamper grew stronger. Jamie and David loved playing with Scamper. They romped around the yard together. Scamper followed them every where they went.

"Jamie, David," Mother called. "It's time for lunch. Come in and get washed up."

Jamie and David ran onto the porch and into the house. Scamper ran onto the porch and tried to go into the house. Jamie laughed at him.

"Look, David, Scamper thinks he is a person, just like us!"

"Scamper, you can't come into the house," laughed David.

"It looks like Scamper thinks he should be allowed to come in," Mother said to the children. To Scamper she said, "But, Scamper, you must stay outside."

Scamper stood at the door and said, "Baaaa, Baaaa".

The weeks turned into months. Scamper was growing so fast! He didn't even drink out of his special bucket anymore. He was eating all by himself. He was growing up! Jamie was sitting on the porch with her arms around Scamper. David came up on the porch.

"Jamie, why are you crying?" he asked.

"David," she said, wiping the tears away, "it's soon going to be time for Scamper to go live with the sheep." David sat down by Scamper.

"I don't want Scamper to go! I want him to stay with us!"

"I don't want him to go either, but we promised Mother and Daddy we would let him go when he grows up!" she reminded him.

"But, I will miss him so. I don't want him to go with the other sheep." Now David was crying.

The day they were dreading had come. They watched as Mr. Frank walked toward their front gate.

"Hello there, Jamie. Hi, David." said Mr. Frank as he entered the yard. "Scamper is old enough to go to live in the field with the other sheep now," Mr. Frank told them. "You've done an excellent job of raising him."

The other sheep lived in the field just across the road from Jamie and David's house. Scamper didn't want to go. David didn't want him to go. Jamie didn't want him to go either, but she said to Scamper, "You must go with Mr. Frank. You need to live with the other sheep now." Mr. Frank carried him across the road and put him into the field.

Scamper didn't know anything about sheep.he had not been raised with other sheep and they didn't look friendly to him. He didn't want to be in the field with the sheep. He wanted to be with his family. He stood by the fence looking at Jamie's house and said, "Baaaa" for a long time. Jamie went to the fence to talk to Scamper. She said,

"Don't cry, Scamper. You are a big boy now. You have to make new friends and live with the other sheep."

A few days later Scamper and all the other sheep were moved to another field. Scamper couldn't see his friends, Jamie and David, from this new field. Soon he found some new friends, lambs like himself. With these new friends he began to learn how to be a sheep.

"Scamper must have decided that being a sheep is fun after all!" exclaimed Jamie as she watched from the car window. Daddy brought them to the new field to see how Scamper liked his new home.

"Look how he is scampering with his new friends." David said, laughing.

As Daddy started the car he said, "He looks like he is happy with his new home and family."

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is basically a true story...with some artistic license taken as to what happens at the end of the story! But that doesn't have to be told!!