Lambies (The End)

Well, that was it. Hiro, my beloved lamb is gone. He's dead.

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I not supposed to feel this way, but I do. Why did I have to fall in love with him so much? I feel like such a horrid person!!! I went in the barn to see him one last time, and was so happy! He bleated to me and started jumping up to see me, nuzzling me with his little sheep nose. I was the first one in the barn, and I would have burst into tears had I not been afraid that someone else would walk in and find me. If he'd been a brat during life, I don't think it would have been as hard to watch him be led onto a trailer, never to be seen again. But he wasn't; he was such a sweetheart! In less than a week, he became like a dog to me. When he saw me coming to feed him, he'd baa and trot over to meet me. I'd sit across from his pen and he'd lay in his bed of woodchips with his best friend and pen-mate and just watch me. When I'd get his halter out to give him exercise, he'd stand up and hold still as I slipped it over his head and lope quietly right next to me as we'd take a walk around the fair grounds. When a little kid would ask to pet him, he wouldn't jump at their touch or anything...just stand there and let them crowd around like a petting zoo, sniffing them and nuzzling their faces. And when I'd leave the barn for the day, he'd bleat again, crying for me not to leave....staring at me with those huge puppy-dog eyes of his and his droopy sheep ears.

I watched from afar as the men tried to catch him to load him onto the slaughter truck. He was scared; he didn't know what was going on. I looked at me and bleated. I tried to put on an assuring face and smiled. "It's ok, Hiro. Be a good boy." At hearing my voice he quieted down and was led un-fighting to the truck. I had to look down and preoccupy myself with the floor I was sweeping to keep from bursting into tears I would never be able to stop. I can't help but feel guilty...like I betrayed a trust I'd worked so hard to build. It's not like this for the meat chickens. When their about to be killed, they are fat, stinky, lazy, ugly little balls of blisters from laying in their own waste because they physically CAN'T get up to move...It's a PLEASURE to get rid of them! Hiro on the other hand...He charmed everyone he met at the fair! I had a little girl come up to me, begging to by him because she had fallen in love with him just from letting her pet his back. He was very clean, friendly, playful, and well-built with the most adorable little face! How could anyone just...want to get rid of such a beautiful animal in cold blood like that! I don't think even the most hard-hearted farmers could do that without feeling just a little tinge of sadness.

I'm glad I didn't know the person who bought him...Maybe it's strange, but I don't want them to come up to me and rave about how good the meat tastes. I prefer not to know.