Hello, I'm Ariel. If I look a little like a miniature llama, it's because I am an alpaca. I live on a farm just outside of town. There are a lot of things growing on the farm, and the farmer harvests them and takes them into town when they're ready for market.
He takes me with him, which takes me away from my pasture but there are interesting things, and people, at the market. Yes, indeed, interesting people. The farmer always ties me up near the edge of the market where the children come and pet me and feed me goodies. Little humans are so playful and appreciative of me, and that's nice.
But what's really interesting is what the grown up humans say to each other as the children play around me. They have no idea that I understand or care what they're saying. I suppose that normally that would be so, but not since I met Penelope.
What a strange creature, she, but very likable. She reminds me of the pigs on the farm and the rats in the barn and around the silo. Things got very interesting the day Penelope sneaked into my trailer just before the farmer closed the back to go back to the farm. Penelope and I talked all the way there. She slipped out around the farmer's feet unnoticed as he was busy untying me to from inside the trailer.
That evening, things really got strange. Penelope whiled away the time visiting with both the pigs and the rats, as she waited for the nighttime.When it was dark, Penelope led me over the hill in my pasture to where the farmhouse was no longer visible. I stumbled a lot in the dark, but Penelope for some reason seemed to keep her footing very well.
Then we came upon another house—right in the middle of my pasture! It was never there before. It didn't have stairs but a ramp. I knew what to expect from what Penelope had said on the way back from town. I thought she was just spinning a yarn, but no, this was exactly as she'd described. She was serious!
This woman, very strange looking woman named Kaggla, did something to the collar the farmer had put on me to look nice for the children. Kaggla explained how the collar helped me understand what humans were saying to each other. Now you know how I can listen to human conversations. Oh my, how can people who are so smart say and do such stupid things as the grown up humans talk about?
When Penelope led me through the dark back to the barnyard, the two of us stood outside the window of the farmhouse and listened to the farmer and his family talk about their day. Wow, I'd had no idea that the world of humans was so full of such complications.
After that night I made a point of listening to every word of any human that I could hear talking. My life has not been the same since. I still mind being taken from my pleasant grazing pasture, but now the time away from it is no longer tedious. The children are as playful as ever, but the grown up humans are beyond fascinating.
Stop by and say hello next time you're at the market. Maybe you can pickup on something I've missed. One thing is for certain, it won't be boring!
See you soon.
