Sheep Herder

Chapter Four

The morning sun streamed between the heavy curtains, its beam going over my bed. My eyes fluttered open and looked at the ceiling. Today is the day, I thought. With a grunt I stepped out of the bed and got ready for today's events.

After a quick breakfast I went to the barn and opened the large red doors. I walked around and to my relief I found all of the sheep in their pens.

"Okay girls, time to get up and shave!" I announce. All five girls moaned as they got out of their beds. Rubbing the sleep out of their big eyes they went to their doors and exited. I was happy to see that they weren't as scared as before but they did look nervous as they huddled together and waited.

"Um, have you been shaven before?" I asked, hoping that they had some insight in this procedure.

"No," quickly stated Shaa.

"Alright, um, so this will be our first shave then," I said nervously. My confidence didn't help the uncertain sheep as they huddled closer together.

"Don't worry, um, I did some research!" I smiled, trying to reassure them. It didn't seem to work. "Okay, well, let's get started shall we." From a satchel under my arm I took out a large metal shaver. The girls looked frightened as they all took a step back in unison. "Hey, don't worry. This is perfectly safe, it won't hurt you," I said reassuringly. I then went to the side of the barn and picked up a small wooden stool. "Okay, who will be first?" I looked over my small flock of sheep.

It took a long minute but of course it was Shaa that stepped forward. I was beginning to think she was the leader of the group or maybe she was just more braver than the rest are.

I set the stool down in front of me and took a step back. "Good, now take a seat." I gestured to the stool. Carefully she came to the small chair and sat down. I turned on the shears and Shaa flinched but remained seated. With a nervous hand I began cutting.

Beginning with her arm I carefully moved across her skin, trying to keep the wool in a single piece. It's surprisingly harder than it looks as I tried to maintain the right height and angle from her skin. By the time I got to her back there were already patches of wool that definitely needed a second trim. It didn't help that Shaa squirmed and twitched as the shears went across her pink skin, making it harder to cut evenly. It soon became awkward when I got to her more, um, sensitive parts. Lucky (or unlucky depending on who you asked) there wasn't much to go around so it was a quick procedure. Finally after a whole ten minutes I was done. I took a step back and looked at my handiwork.

It... was not too bad. Shaa stood up and turned to me, allowing me to look over her very skinny body. With her wool piled at the side she looked even more sickly than before. With an uneven shave and wool only covering her private parts she really looked like a little girl, which made me feel uncomfortable to look at her.

"Um, okay, next," I said nervously as I looked over to the other sheep. Daa stepped forward and I did the same.

After an hour of shearing I was finally done with a pile of wool on one side and a flock of near naked sheep girls on the other. They all were huddling together, their bare skin shivering from the morning chill.

Looking them over I could clearly see the improvement I made with each sheep. Shaa had the most uneven wool while the last one, Laa, was the most even. Not the best but the best for me.

"Good job girls! Go have breakfast, I'll be back later this evening."

The girls moved away and went to the huge pile of hay in the back and began eating. That is, all except one. Standing near me was Daa staring at me intensely.

"Yes?" I asked, looking down at the newly pinked sheep. She just continued to stare, making me feel awkward. "Um, is there something wrong?"

"I like you," She asked flatly.

I rubbed the back of my head feeling a little embarrassed. "Oh, okay. Thank you, um, I like you too." She then turned around and joined her sisters. "Well that was awkward," I thought before turning to the pile of wool.

~

Carrying the large heap of wood, which was surprisingly heavy, I entered my house and dropped the pile onto the large table. I then walked to the phone and dialed up my Aunt's lawyer.

It was a quick procedure as they just confirmed my request and in less than a hour a truck drove up my runway. I stepped out of the house and greeted the man that stepped out of the vehicle. We then returned into the house and I presented him with my pile of wool.

"Mmm," said the middle aged man in overalls, looking over the wool. From my research of wool prices I wasn't expecting much. "I'll give you... 10,000 dollars for it."

"What?" I said shockingly.

"Fine, 15,000, but no more."

"Um, yes, yes!" I said quickly.

"Good, I'll wire the funds later today." He then grabbed the pile and easily lifted it up. I was left stunned as he exited out the door and drove away.

"15,000 dollars?!" I said, "that can't be right, sheep's wool shouldn't be more than a dollar per pound?" I then took out my cell phone and did a quick search. I found out that I was looking at normal sheep's wool prices and not anthropomorphic sheep's wool. Apparently because of how rare my sheep were, their wool was much more expensive. Upon this revolution I began to feel more hopeful about completing my Aunt's challenge.

"So, you live here," said a dry girl's voice from behind me. I nearly jumped out of my shoes before quickly turning around to see Daa standing in my living room looking at me.

"What are you doing here?!"

"I wanted to see where you live," she said bluntly.

I sighed, too much excitement for one day. "You're not supposed to be here," I stated as I walked up to her.

"Why?" She asked innocently.

"Because this is my house, you have yours." I put my hand behind her back and pushed her toward the door.

"Why can't we visit?"

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you," I asked as I led her out of the house to the barn.

"You don't answer my question," she stated.

"And I don't need to answer. Now go eat, you all need some meat on those bones." I gently pushed her into the barn and closed the door before locking it. I need some time alone to figure some things out.