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“What’s a woo-mate?” he asked.
“She’s my best friend and she lives on my farm with me. She’s super nice.”
He opened the bag up happily, stuffed his tiny hand into it and pulled out as big a portion of granola as he could grasp. Then he shoved the food into his mouth and chomped eagerly.
“Careful now,” I said. “I know you’re hungry, but make sure you chew it up good before you swallow, alright?”
“OK.” His eyes were on the bag as he spoke, his hand going in for another grab.
I sat there full of curiosity as he ate. Who was this kid? How did he end up on my land? And who were these uncles he was talking about? Part of me wanted to launch a barrage of questions at Henry, but I decided to let him eat in peace, as the snow fell all around us. He seemed to be in good shape and good spirits, but I knew a kid as young as he was wandering around in a blizzard-in-the-making was not a wise thing to do.
The first and most important step was to take him back to the house, get him cleaned up and his scuff disinfected and covered with a Band-Aid. Once that was done, Aggie and I could start the work of figuring out who little Henry belonged to.
Before I could give the matter too much more thought, Henry lifted the bag and stuck it out in my direction.
Kind of.
He held it out toward me, but a little off to the side. My stomach tensed at the sight. Had he banged his head to the point of being that uncoordinated? Was he seeing double? If that was the case, I’d need to get him to the nearest hospital as soon as I could.
“Henry? Thank you, but I’m over here.” I placed my hands on his gently moving them in the right direction.
He quickly moved them right back. “Not for you! For him!”
“Him?”
“Yeah! Right there!”
I turned, my heart nearly jumping into my chest as I saw George standing just over my shoulder, about twenty feet back at the tree line. He had the usual dopey look on his face, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
“There you are!” I called out, turning toward the animal. “Buddy, I swear.”
I started toward him. Before I took a step, however, I thought of Henry’s offer.
“That’s my buddy George,” I said. “He’s a llama.”
“A llama?”
“Yep. He’s really nice, but he’s a troublemaker. I came out here to bring him home. Want to help?”
“Yeah!”
“Alright. Come with me and let’s give him some chow. He eats everything, so he’ll go crazy over that granola. Then, once we’ve got him, we’ll go back to my place, where we will get you cleaned up, you can meet my roommate and we’ll try to find out where you belong”
“I want to see my uncles,” he said, a touch of worry to his face.
“You live with your uncles?”
He nodded.
“Well, once you’re cleaned up and have some real food in your belly, we can get in touch with them and get you home, OK? But it’s getting super snowy out, so we shouldn’t be outside.”
The worry stayed on his face. “You’re a stranger,” he said for the second time.
“Only for now, buddy! We’re neighbors! Once we get to know each other, we won’t be strangers anymore, we’ll be friends.”
He regarded me with a bit of hesitation, then nodded. “OK.”
“Perfect.” I held out my hand to his, and he took it.
