Claudia noticed folded pamphlets neatly displayed on a shelf close to the waiting area. They contained information about the various artistic classes and workshops being given for children, teens, and adults at the farm's studio. There were some for soap making, spinning, and felting. People could learn how to make felted scarves, mini animals, and dryer balls, among other things. As she was going through the material, a petite young woman with short blond hair in her early twenties arrived to give Claudia and Henry their tour. As nobody else would be joining them, it would be a private one. To avoid having to say everything in two different languages, the guide gave them the choice of speaking in either English or French. They understood both languages, but chose to have their tour in English.
brown eyes, put on his old Expos baseball cap as well as his sunglasses and got out the dark blue Honda. Claudia, an attractive short and thin woman with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair, green eyes, and a slightly sunburned freckled face was already impatiently waiting on his side of the car. The couple, both in their late thirties, headed for the wooden building in the heat.
The guide introduced herself as Karen, then led her two visitors outside through a door marked private. She walked towards a big wooden barn a few dozen metres away. Claudia noticed some alpacas lying in a shaded area near the tall metal fence by the building. One stood and came towards them. "Hello," she said to it.
They walked through the front door and found themselves in an airconditioned boutique selling products made with alpaca wool; blankets, scarves, slippers, mittens, gloves, hats, leg warmers, ponchos, shawls, sweaters, socks, bags, purses, decorative felt brooches plus other jewelry, and even stuffed animals of various sizes were on display. There were also several framed acrylic and oil paintings as well as pictures of alpacas hanging on the walls.
They entered the barn through the side door and found themselves in a small room with a utility sink as well as two long wooden shelves stocked with large bags of animal feed and stacked up plastic containers. Karen grabbed a long wooden stick which leant against one of the wooden walls and said that it was used to herd the alpacas. "They understand boundaries," she explained.
Beside each of the four cash registers in the centre of the boutique, signs advertised hourly bilingual guided visits to the farm for fifteen dollars. Claudia inquired about the next one and was informed that it would start in ten minutes so she purchased tickets. She was then told to wait at the other end of the boutique next to a post with an alpaca on it for their guide. The post had a round cardboard clock on it with movable black hands currently set to one o'clock, indicating the time of the next guided tour.
When they moved to the next area of the barn, Claudia noticed five electrical fans in the center cooling off the area as they oscillated. She figured it probably also helped reduce the lingering smell of alpaca droppings the summer heat would otherwise intensify. The next thing she saw were numerous alpacas within hay-filled enclosures to her left and right staring at her with big dark eyes. They looked - 57 -
