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Adam and I shared another look, this one communicating something different. Henry was a good kid, and quite social once he warmed up to someone. That warming-up process could take some time, however, and it was unusual to see him becoming comfortable with Aubrey so quickly.
“You boys are over on the big farm?” she asked. “The huge, thousand-acre place? What do you all call that chunk of land, anyway?”
Adam laughed. “We call it ‘Thousand Acres Ranch.’ Our great grandpa might’ve been a hell of a rancher, but he wasn’t the most creative when it came to naming.”
Aubrey laughed too. “Hey, makes it easy to remember the name. And it’s apropos.”
“That it is,” I agreed.
We approached her place which was a respectable-sized bit of land, I guessed around fifty acres. The main house was two stories, there was a big barn off to the side, and a good number of animal pens. The small road connected to Washburn, the main drag into the nearest town.
One of the pens had a handful of llamas within its confines.
“Interesting choice for animals,” I said, stepping over to the wooden fence around the llama pen. There were five in total, including George. I placed my hands on the wood and looked at the animals. “Can’t say I’ve seen many llamas here in Maryland.”
“Hey, you might think they’re a little silly, but they’re worth their weight in gold. Yuppies over in DC pay ahugepremium for real llama-wool sweaters. Plus, they love the cold—they’re happy as clams outside even when it’s snowing.”
Adam and I shared another look, this one suggesting that maybe this whole llama thing was worth looking into. I chuckled, leaning forward on the fence and watching the animals do their thing.
“Alright, Henry,” I said. “We led George back home. Let’s let Aubrey here get back to her holiday.”
“He’s not home yet!” Henry exclaimed. “He has to go inside.” He pointed to the pen.
“He can help,” Aubrey said. “Don’t worry, they’re all gentle.”
Adam glanced over at me, and I nodded.
“Sure. I suppose it’s good for the kid to meet new animals when he can.”
Aubrey smiled, reaching into her pack and pulling out a ring of silver keys. “See this one here, Henry? That’ll open the lock. Go ahead and do that, then push open the door. Once it’s open, step into the pen and call out for George. He should come to where you are.”
“OK! I can do that!”
She handed over the keys and Henry took them, stepping over to the gate. The big, silver lock was just out of reach, so I stepped over and hoisted the little man up by his waist. Henry let out a laugh as he worked the key into the lock, opening it. I helped him with the latch, and once that was open, he pulled the gate.
“Ready, big guy?” I asked.
“Yep!”
I set him back down, backing up as Henry entered the llama pen. The other llamas watched skeptically, as if wanting to wait and see what was going on with this new, tiny person in their zone.
“Come on!” Henry said. “George, get your big, furry butt in here!”
“Hen!” called Adam as I let out a big belly laugh. “Is that a nice thing to say to George?”
“Aubrey said it!”
Aubrey arched her brows in surprise. “Um, well, it’s true. Ididtell him that his butt was big. And furry.”
“Whatever gets the job done,” I said, shaking my head in amusement.
George took a second, but after a little more calling and waving from Henry, he eventually got the hint. The animal made his way into the pen, stepping over to Henry and giving his hair a sniff. Henry laughed, petting George’s chest.
“There you go, big man,” I said. “Now, get on out here and finish the job.”
“Say bye to George!” Aubrey called out.
Henry grinned at us before climbing the fence and waving at George.
