Lily to the Rescue: The Misfit Donkey Read online

  She was wiping mud off her face and the front of her sweatshirt and shaking her head at me. “You splattered mud all over me, Lily!”

  Bryan was laughing at her. “That’s what you get for standing too close to the pig pen.”

  I dashed over to wiggle under the bars of the pen and pant up at her, wagging hard. It was so much fun here! I was glad it was making Bryan and Maggie Rose happy. Then I turned right back to keep on playing with Scamper and Dash.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw my girl stop wiping her face and straighten up. She turned and pointed. “Hey, look!” she exclaimed.

  4

  I was very busy with my pig friends. They smelled just like I remembered, and they liked to run just as much as I remembered, but not everything was the same. For one thing, they used to topple over whenever I jumped on them. But now they stayed on all four feet no matter what I did.

  I was squirming under Dash’s belly when an odd sound filled the air.

  It was a low, rumbling noise, deep and loud, ending in a squeal that reminded me a bit of the sounds Scamper and Dash made. I lifted my head and stared. Trotting up to the fence was what looked a little like a baby horse, but with shorter legs and a thicker body. He stopped and lowered his head to watch me playing in the pen with my pig friends.

  “Wow,” Bryan said. “It’s a baby donkey!”

  I decided this new creature might want to play, too! I raced over to the fence to sniff him. He put a furry nose down inside the pen to sniff me back.

  I could smell that he was very young. His breath carried the sweet odor of the green grass he had been eating. I sometimes eat grass, too, but only a blade or two at a time. This not-dog, not-horse animal smelled like he never ate anything but grass.

  I’ve learned over time that cats and rabbits and weasels and skunks and crows all eat different things, most of it pretty disgusting. They don’t know what good dogs know, which is how to sit by a table and wait until toast comes their way—with or without peanut butter. Nothing tastes better than a treat given to me by my girl’s hand.

  This is something most animals don’t seem to care about. If this grass-eating creature was ever lucky enough to be inside the house at dinner time, I bet he would just ignore what was up on the table and hope to be let out to chew on the lawn.

  Scamper and Dash charged over to sniff at the new animal’s nose through the fence. Maggie Rose came close, too. She reached out and stroked the new animal’s muzzle. “I’ve never seen a baby donkey before. It’s so cute!”

  A woman I remembered smelling before came over from a house nearby. I wagged in her direction. “That’s Burrito,” the woman said. “I just picked him up this morning.”

  She leaned against the fence next to Maggie Rose and Bryan. Mom went over and shook her hand. “Are you Kelly?” Mom asked.

  “That’d be me,” the woman agreed cheerfully. “You remember me, Maggie Rose? You came with your dad to bring me the little pigs when they were just babies.”

  I looked at my girl because I’d heard her name. She nodded. “Is this your donkey?” she asked.

  That was the second time my girl had said “donkey.” I wondered if the new word had anything to do with this new animal I was sniffing.

  “Yes, and he’s a sweetie,” the woman, Kelly, replied. “Want to give him a treat?”

  Treat! Now that’s a word that will get a dog’s attention. I abandoned Scamper and Dash and squirmed under the fence. The donkey not-dog watched me but didn’t change expression or make any noise or wag his tail at all. I did my very best Sit at Maggie Rose’s feet to show that I was ready for any treats that might be showing up.

  Maggie Rose laughed. “Oh, Lily,” she said. “Not for you.”

  I wagged. Yes, I am Lily and I am very good and I would like my treat now, please.

  Kelly handed Maggie Rose something. I could smell what it was—a carrot.

  I have tried carrots before. They are not too bad, even though you have to chew at them a lot. They come apart in bits, like a squeaky toy. And you can swallow them, just like pieces of a squeaky toy. But they are not treats. So I kept doing Sit, waiting for the real dog treat.

  Maggie Rose didn’t even seem to notice my good Sit! She held her hand out the way Kelly showed her—flat, with the carrot resting on her palm.

  The donkey was very interested in that carrot. He stuck his big nose right into Maggie Rose’s hand.

  Maggie Rose giggled. “It tickles!” she exclaimed as the donkey crunched up the carrot.

  I gave up doing Sit. Nobody was even paying attention, and it wasn’t worth doing it for a carrot, anyway. I watched as Bryan held out his peanut-butter-flavored palm with another carrot. That donkey was acting like a carrot was as good as a chicken treat. Donkeys must not be as smart as dogs. Any dog would know that a carrot is not that exciting.

  Kelly rubbed the donkey behind the ears. I like getting scratched there, too, so I went up to Maggie Rose and nudged her hand. She had forgotten my treat, but she could give me a scratch at least.

  She did.

  “I love donkeys,” said Kelly. “I had one for years—Mr. Jack. But he died last winter.”

  “Oh dear, I’m sorry,” said Mom.

  “That’s too bad,” Bryan said.

  “He had a good long life,” Kelly said. “I finally decided I was ready for a new donkey, and I got this one from a farm down the way. I named him Burrito because a burro is a small donkey, and he’s just a little guy. I figured a little burro should be a Burrito! He’s kind of shy, but I’m hoping he’ll get along with the other animals. The pigs really seem to like him. They were all playing in the big field together this morning. Let’s try it again.”

  She climbed over the fence and opened up a gate to the pigs’ pen.

  Scamper and Dash squealed with excitement and darted through the gate so fast they nearly knocked Kelly over.

  The donkey seemed just as happy. He kicked out his back legs and shook his head and then he ran across the grass, snorting and making more of those loud, funny noises.

  Scamper and Dash raced behind him.

  Chase-Me! They were doing Chase-Me! I know a lot of games—I can play It’s-My-Ball-Not-Yours and Let’s-Carry-a-Stick and Dig-in-the-Dirt. But of all games, Chase-Me is the best. I did not want to be left behind, so I ran after Scamper and Dash and the donkey.

  “Go, Lily!” Maggie Rose called.

  I loved the farm!

  The pigs and I ran until we felt like rolling, and then we rolled on the ground in one big pile. The donkey came trotting up to us and flopped down, too, and we all rolled. It was so much fun!

  Then I stood up and shook because of another new odor on the air. The farm was full of them!

  I turned and saw two boys, one about my girl’s size and one much bigger. They were coming up the road, and they were leading a strange animal by a leash that connected to a harness around his head.

  I had met this animal before.

  5

  I heard the new woman, Kelly, say, “Oh, look, here comes Ringo! Doesn’t he look handsome!”

  The new arrival was a little like a horse, but he had a much longer neck and a smaller head. His fur was fuzzy and looked soft. His head was up so high, it was taller than even the taller of the two boys.

  We get a lot of animals coming and going at Work, but this one was one of the strangest-looking. I was about to trot over to greet it and the new boys, but Maggie Rose called me and I went to her side, since that’s what good dogs do.

  “Is that a llama?” Bryan asked.

  “Yep. Name’s Ringo. Would you like to pet him? He was over at the neighbor’s place, getting his coat groomed,” Kelly replied.

  “I saw him when I was here before. He didn’t want to play with Lily,” Maggie Rose added.

  Kelly waved her hand. “Let Ringo loose, boys! And come on over.”

  The taller boy unclipped the horse-thing’s leash and it immediately trotted over to where Scamper, Dash, and
the donkey were still wrestling in the grass. All three stopped playing to see what this new animal would do.

  The horse-thing ignored the pigs. It came right toward the little donkey, stamping with its hard hooves.

  “Oh no!” Maggie Rose cried.

  She was unhappy. And the little donkey scrambled to his feet and backed away from the big horse-thing. I could tell something was wrong. My new friend was in danger!

  I broke out of Sit and raced across the field, coming to a stop directly in front of the horse-thing. I barked, letting it know that if it wanted to hurt the donkey, it would have to deal with a dog.

  The horse-thing had large dark eyes with very long eyelashes. He blinked and studied me carefully. Then he made the strangest sound I had ever heard an animal make. His mouth stayed closed, but somehow he brayed a little like the donkey and honked a little like a goose and squeaked kind of like my squeaky toy back Home.

  Then he spat right at me. Blinking, I backed away. I’d never been spat at before! I barked again because I couldn’t think of what else to do.

  The little donkey was just as confused as I was. He ran around behind me and shook his head. Scamper and Dash seemed nervous and turned and fled back through the gate to their pen.

  The two boys came running up. The taller one grabbed the harness on the horse-thing and snicked the leash back onto it. He pulled the spitting, moaning creature back while the younger one came up and put his arms around the donkey.

  Soon Maggie Rose and Kelly joined us. Kelly was panting a little.

  “Lily!” my girl said. Then she put my leash on, so that now there were two of us on leashes. I hoped she understood I had not been a bad dog. I’d just been trying to help my friend.

  The donkey was still being hugged by the smaller boy. He had a scent I recognized. I’d met him before.

  “Thank you so much, Kurt, for grabbing Ringo. And you, Bobby, for holding on to poor Burrito,” Kelly said.

  “Mom and Bryan are putting Scamper and Dash back in their pen,” Maggie Rose said.

  The horse-thing was eyeing me coldly. Then it turned its head and stared at the donkey. Who would want such a mean thing as a pet? Maybe Kelly should come down to Work and meet some nice animals.

  “Hi!” the younger boy exclaimed. “You’re the one who brought the pigs, right? You’re Maggie?”

  “Maggie Rose. I remember you, Bobby,” my girl replied. “Let’s put Lily and Burrito into the pen with the pigs. They’re all friends.”

  “Good idea,” Kelly said. “And Kurt, you keep hold of Ringo.”

  The tall boy nodded. “He sure doesn’t like that donkey,” he said.

  We went over to where Scamper and Dash were back behind their fence. Kelly opened a gate and the younger boy led the donkey in. My girl unsnapped my leash. I went under the fence because I could tell that’s what she wanted, but I stood near the people while the donkey went to lie down with Sadie and her two big baby pigs.

  The humans were talking to each other. Because I am a very smart dog, I figured out that the taller boy was Kurt, and the boy Maggie Rose’s age was Bobby.

  The spitting, moaning, mean horse-thing was called Ringo. He stood near the people while they talked, and I kept an eye on him while he kept an eye on me. If he spat at Maggie Rose, I would have to bite him right on one of his hooves. I didn’t really want to do that, so I hoped he would keep his spit to himself.

  “Ringo doesn’t like Burrito at all!” Kelly said, shaking her head. “It’s so strange. I’ve never seen him behave that aggressively before toward any of my other animals.”

  “He didn’t like Lily very much, either,” Maggie Rose added. I wagged at my name.

  “I’ve heard that llamas can be like that,” Mom put in. “They might decide that another animal is a threat for no reason anyone can figure out. Can you keep the two of them separated?”

  Kelly put both hands in her pockets. “For right now I can. But Ringo really does have to be free to roam around the whole farm. He’s like a guard dog—he keeps an eye on all the animals, and he makes a lot of noise if any predators come near. We’re right in the mountains, and there are coyotes around.”

  “That’s what our donkeys do on our ranch,” Bobby said. “They keep our place safe from predators.”

  “Donkeys guard the ranch? What do you mean?” my girl asked.

  6

  I wagged because my girl had said something, even though I hadn’t heard my name.

  “No, seriously, they really do act like security guards,” Bobby insisted.

  “It’s funny how they go about it,” taller-boy Kurt said. “If the donkeys see anything, like a deer passing by, first their ears all go up and point right at it. Like the way we would point our fingers.”

  Kurt pointed at me, so I did Sit.

  “Then they line up,” Bobby said.

  “Right,” Kurt agreed. “Side by side at the fence, they line up and start up braying. That’s to let us know there’s something out there.”

  “What happens if it’s a mountain lion? Or a bear?” Bryan wanted to know.

  “Then they turn around and show their rear ends!” Kurt hooted.

  Nobody told me how good my Sit was, so I got up and stretched.

  “And that’s scary?” Bryan asked, grinning.

  “Yeah, actually, because a kick from a donkey can hurt a mountain lion or even kill it. They could give a bear a hard time,” Kurt explained. “It never comes to that, though. We had a mountain lion come up to the ranch once, and when the donkeys lined up it took off for the hills.”

  “That same cougar came sniffing around here, too, and Ringo chased him off,” Kelly agreed. “Nobody wants to be stomped by a llama. It would crush a paw.”

  “So if Ringo stomps on Burrito, he could really get hurt?” Maggie Rose asked in a small voice.

  All the people stopped talking. For some reason, they turned to look at Burrito, who was still sleeping with the pigs. I yawned, thinking a nap might be a good idea.

  “I think I should never have bought another donkey,” Kelly murmured sadly. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now.”

  “Know what?” Kurt said suddenly. “I’ll bet my dad would want Burrito. He was saying just the other day that all our donkeys are getting to be pretty old. Spud’s our oldest, and he’s more than thirty.”

  “Your dad would take Burrito? That would be wonderful,” Kelly replied. “That would solve all our problems!”

  I noticed that everyone was suddenly more cheerful now. I glanced around but didn’t see anything that might explain the change, like a toy.

  Kelly went into the pen and hooked a rope around Burrito and led him out through the gate. I wiggled out under the fence and my girl put me on a leash.

  I realized that Burrito smelled very much the same as Scamper and Dash. There was a donkey smell underneath, one that was all his own, but on top of that smell there was a lot of pig.

  “Well, Burrito, let’s go next door and see how you like being with a herd of your own kind,” Kelly said.

  We all went for a walk! Well, not Ringo, who stayed behind so he could glare and spit at everything. The rest of us headed down a road. I was with my girl, who walked next to Bobby, and Kurt was beside Bryan. Mom and Kelly and Burrito were at the rear.

  “We’re getting some chickens soon,” Bobby told Maggie Rose. “Maybe you could come and get eggs sometime!”

  “That would be nice,” Maggie Rose agreed shyly.

  I smelled where we were going long before we got there. The scent of donkey was very strong on the air. There were also other animals, especially horses. Another farm! I couldn’t wait to get back Home so Brewster could smell all the new odors on my fur.

  We turned up a rutted driveway and I stopped dead in my tracks, because there in the dirt was the most amazing thing I’d ever sniffed.

  Poop! But not just any poop. Giant poop! It was a pile of poop bigger than my head! And not dog poop, either. I have smelled plenty of
that. This smelled different, sort of grassy. I sniffed deeply and realized that a horse had left this poop here for me.

  “Maggie Rose, don’t let Lily roll in that!” Mom called. She was farther back, still walking with Burrito and Kelly.

  “I’m trying!” Maggie Rose called. She pulled hard on my leash. “Lily, come on! Lily, I said come!”

  Of course I knew that I should do what my girl said, but really? Leave the horse poop before I’d smelled it all? I wondered if I should take a little taste. I gave it a lick. Not bad!

  “Ugh, Lily, stop it!” said Maggie Rose, and she pulled so hard on my leash that I was forced to leave the poop before I was done sniffing.

  At the top of the driveway I could see the donkeys, in a big field next to a building. Burrito made a squealing, braying sound, and I realized that he’d noticed the donkeys, too. One of the donkeys brayed back, and they all lined up at the fence to watch us coming. They had big ears that stood straight up on their heads instead of flopping down like most dogs’ do. Those ears swung around to point right at us.

  Maggie Rose pulled me close on my leash. “They’re pointing their ears. Does that mean they’re going to try to kick Lily?”

  “No, don’t worry,” Bobby told Maggie Rose. “The donkeys are used to dogs. We’ve got three. I think they’re most interested in Burrito, actually. I’m going to go get them some treats that they like, and we’ll use those to help them get used to Burrito. It’s going to work, I’m sure.”

  “Where’s your father?” Kelly asked.

  “He rode off to check on our cattle. Once we get Burrito settled in, I’ll grab a horse and go and let him know what’s going on,” Kurt replied. He looked at Bryan. “You want to come along?”

  7

  Bryan blinked in surprise. “Oh. Uh, I never rode on a horse before.”

  “S’okay, I’ll put you up on Daisy. She’s pretty much the most gentle horse in the world,” Kurt replied.