Days Like This by Gemma Waugh
I was standing outside our toy shed door a shovel in one hand and a brush in the other. It was freezing cold as there had been frost that morning. Mum and Dad had told us to give the shed a good clean out as it was the beginning of spring.
‘There were lots of things I would rather be doing,' I thought.
‘Right,' I said. ‘Lets get started.' Me and my brothers set to work, the boys were chatting about nothing in particular. We emptied the shed and brushed up all the dirt and broken pieces.
As we all sat down to lunch, the toys still lying outside Mum explained to us that she was just off the phone with Auntie Sandra. She had been telling her that they had got six pet lambs but were only keeping three of them! I loved lambs and had always wanted a pet one but mum and dad said we had no room for them even though we have a huge garden.
I was putting on my shoes when dad came through. He was carrying a huge cardboard box that was full of shredded paper. I knew what was coming next.
‘What do you lot say about feeding three pet lambs four times a day?' he asked with a jokey smile. I jumped with excitement!
At Auntie Sandra's, the lambs were in the sheep trailer. Gillian, Greg and Mhairi had chosen which lambs they wanted. They had got one boy and five girls altogether and they were keeping the boy and the two biggest girls as they had another pet lamb which was older so they want the bigger ones to put with it.
The lambs we got to choose from had only been born the night before and had been taken away from their mums, because they were first time lambers and is better for the sheep to only look after one lamb for the first time.
They were all so cute. Unfortunately the boys got to pick first. Murray called the one he chose Tiny and Fergus picked a very lively one and called her Hammy the Lambie.
The only one left was a shy one. Mind you I was not bothered as she was the one I had had eye on from the beginning as she looked as though she needed a good friend.
We didn't stay for long as we had to get lamb milk and feed from the shops before they closed. As we drove along I decided to name mine Suzie and could not wait to get her home and give her the first feed.
The lambs had bleated the whole way home. Dad had bought a long sheet of tin to pen off a corner of the shed. There was going to be no nights out for the next six weeks!
I got the straw from bale we had been using for the guinea pigs and the boys put the toys into dad's shed. He was just going to have to live with them!
I fed Suzie from an old Fanta bottle with a teat on top. It was brilliant fun. Suzie had some problems though which were going to take a lot of work. She was pluttery with the bottle, and had constipation!
