MARY'S LITTLE LAMB

© 2012 by Danna Shirley, Writing assignment

I belong to a sweet little girl named Mary. I love to be with her because she takes good care of me, keeping my fleece as white as snow. That’s a hard job, too, because lambs can get pretty dirty. We play together every day frolicking in the grass and playing hide and seek.

One day Mary was gone all day long. I couldn’t find her anywhere.  I looked behind the big oak tree.  I looked in the barn. I looked in the meadow. I looked and looked until I was so tired.  Then I decided to wait for her near the steps going into the house. I waited and waited until I finally fell asleep. 

It seemed like only a little time passed when I felt someone stroking my nose. I opened my eyes to see Mary’s face smiling down on me. I was so happy to see her.  She told me she missed me but she had to go to school. We played and played until it was time for her to go inside for her supper. 

The next morning she walked down the lane and out to the big road where I am not allowed to go…but everywhere Mary went, I wanted to go, too. So I followed her to school but I stayed way behind so she wouldn’t see me. 

Pretty soon we came upon a big building sitting in the middle of a huge fenced yard. “So this is school!” I thought. There were lots of children playing inside the fence and I wanted to play, too, but I thought I better stay out of sight. Then a loud bell rang and all the children went inside. I settled down under the shade of a big tree to wait for Mary and took a nap. 

Another bell woke me and I saw the children streaming out of the building and begin to play. I spotted Mary near the fence so I scampered over to her and bleeped “Hello.” She was surprised and pleased to see me. All of her friends gathered around and I jumped and kicked and laughed and played with them.

“Uh, oh,” someone whispered. “Here comes the teacher.” 

I didn’t know it was against the rules for me to be there until the teacher turned me out and told me to go home. I wasn’t going anywhere without Mary so I lingered near the big tree out of sight.

Another bell rang and I saw Mary bounding out the door, across the playground, and through the fence straight to me. We were so happy to see each other. This time we walked side by side all the way home.  

Short story for Creative Writing Class at Bartlett Senior Center, Bartlett, TN