A story by Vanessa
Grampi had lots of animals that he raised. I loved it when babies were born. Sometimes we were allowed to touch them, being careful not to touch what I called ‘the un Biblical cord’. Every once in a while a lamb would be born and the mother would die. These poor lambs would not last long without their mother. This was upsetting, and I decided to keep one orphan and raise it. I don’t think anyone believed it would survive, but she did.
Mummy got a bottle and milk and I remember getting up very early in the dark to feed this lamb. It seemed like it took forever for the milk to heat up, and she was very vocal about this wait! I was shown how to test if the milk was warm or too hot. She was my baby, and we became inseparable. Someone suggested I name her Gretel, so I did.
Gretel was nut brown with curly hair and was such a sweet lamb! She thought of me as her mama and would be on the porch every morning bleating for her milk. One day she became impatient and jumped through our front window and came to my bedroom. She started to follow me around, and when I left the house to play down by the beach she would follow. People started calling me Mary, and I would inform them Mary was my aunt, not me! Obviously I didn’t get it!
One day I came home from school and Gretel was not there. Where was my lambi?! Mummy explained to me that it was time for Gretel to learn to eat grass like the others, and explained to me the word ‘wean’. She had been moved to Paradise hill with the rest of the herd.
I was heartbroken. I never did see Gretel again, and am sure she ended up in a tasty curry.