A Surprise on a Rainy Afternoon

Coming home from work Monday as it was beginning to rain, I noticed Mama and Tony standing in the little barn in the horseyard. All I could think about was hurrying to change so I could get chores done before the rain began in earnest, so I ran in, greeted the pugs, and changed quickly, running back out to the henhouse. I decided to take the llamas their treat first, so walked out with the bucket. They had moved off under Beau's tree, and were grazing, so I called to them.

Up from the grass popped a little head, long banana ears waving and looking around interestedly.

"Who are you?" I cried... "Where did YOU come from" for there in the grass, was a tiny cria, just born. It got to it's feet and wandered toward me, tottering on long legs. Then it walked past slowly, looking around at the pond as the rain began to fall more steadily. I approached it again, and it smelled me, it's long eyelashes fluttering. I praised Mama for her cleverness and walked towards the barn. Mama and Tony came along, with the new member of the little family following unsteadily. Once in the barnyard, I loaded them down with hay and feed. When Husband got home, he found the afterbirth where the baby had dropped in the barn. I cleaned it up, but Mama would not let us touch the baby to dry him/her off. As llamas have fixed tongues, they can't lick their babies dry, but we hoped for the best as Mama is very experienced. Sure enough, this morning Yankee the baby was fine, and being guarded both by Big Brother Tony and Mama. We had storms all night, but by Tuesday night, the sun had come out, and all was well at Calamity Acres.