his fur, from head to hindquarters. She did it several times until the little mouse sighed and lay quietly in her palm. “You do have a comforting touch,” the mouse whispered before fading away. She reached into her drawer and pulled out her book and drew the mouse below the pigs. Under the small drawing she printed the words, ‘small and nervos’.
S
Kalee avoided more questions. She felt a lump in her throat that hurt when she swallowed. She held out her arms. “Maybe it is best you come one at a time.” The first little lamb with a creamy body and black legs leapt with such grace onto her bed that it made Kalee smile. It trotted over and fell to it knees, pressing its face into her pajama top. The smell of new grass and spring rain had Kalee taking in a deep breath and leaning her nose close to the wool. The lamb slid its back hooves beneath its body and lay quite still against Kalee. Kalee patted and hugged the lamb. “Is this okay, lamb?” she asked. The little lamb nodded and closed its eyes and soon it faded away. Each lamb that followed, Kalee tried to remember something special about it. Something that made it stand apart from the others. One had a small black spot in the shape of a crescent moon on its chest, another had a thin black stripe above its left eye, and one was so white, even its small cloven hooves were cream colour. Once they were gone, taking the smell of grass and rain with them, she sighed and looked over at Rain who sat watching the scene on the old armchair.
pring arrived and when the cherry tree outside her window layered her screen with white blossom, she awoke one night to a room full of lambs. They were all soft wool and innocence, pressed together as if they shared one heart. She recognized them immediately. They were Mr. Trevor’s lambs. Kalee often watched them as the school bus drove past his farm. She had first spotted them weeks ago, when they were only days old, when frost still clung to both field and fence post. She remembered how they trotted and frolicked behind their wide woolen mothers. “What are you all doing here?” she asked. “We don’t know. We miss our “They all were so terribly young. mothers. We were taken from them.” Their mothers must be sad.” One small voice spoke for all of them. Rain licked her paw. Kalee pulled out
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