Sammi and Dusty Read Online Free PDF Page A

its huge white wings spread wide. It ran over the water at him, and Sammi panicked. He turned around and ran away as fast as he could. He had no idea where he was going, but he had to get out of there!
    He bolted around the garden and up through all the flower beds. There was a woman on one of the pathways with a basket of flowers on her arm, and he accidentally knocked it as he rushed past.
    ‘Hey! Careful! Slow down!’ yelled the woman. ‘No running on the pathways!’
    Sammi glanced back, and saw that he’d spilled half the flowers. The woman was bending over picking them up. Not again , he thought to himself. All he seemed to do was cause trouble! He couldn’t bear it. He raced on until he was out of sight, then dived into one of the sheds. To his relief, there was no one in there. He didn’t want to have to deal with anyone else being cross with him.
    He leaned against some of the sacks, trying to get his breath back. He felt awful. He thought of what his mum had said, just before leaving: I want you to make a good impression. His heart was beating painfully in his chest. He’d let her down. He’d made a terrible impression at school, and now he’d made a terrible impression at City Farm as well. He thought of how he’d been in Afghanistan: all his friends had loved him for being good fun, and the adults loved him because he was happy and helpful, and just a little bit cheeky, but not too much.
    That Sammi had disappeared now. Everything had changed. Life in the UK was a disaster.
    * * *
    He heard footsteps outside the feed room, and held his breath. He didn’t want anyone to find him in here. The person passed by, and Sammi peered outside. There was no one in sight, so he tiptoed out and looked around. Just beyond the sheds, he spotted a couple of small fields. Maybe there’d be something more interesting there? He thought about the sheep he’d heard when he arrived – maybe he could go and look for that. Much better to see some real farm animals, instead of silly pet fluffy things, and hopefully there wouldn’t be any more big white birds to scare the pants off him!
    He walked over to the fields, looking over his shoulder every now and again to check he wasn’t being watched. There were some sheep in the first field – but they were nothing like sheep he’d seen before. They were kind of rounder and shorter, and they had floppy fringes over their eyes.
    ‘Weird,’ he said to himself.
    He moved on to the next field, and saw a black and white pony grazing alongside a big gingery-coloured horse. Sammi watched them for a moment. The pony raised his head and looked at him, then carried on munching grass. Sammi was soon bored, and was about to turn away when he noticed something else, standing in the shade of a big leafy tree. This time it was something very familiar. It was a donkey.
    He hadn’t even thought about it before, but this was the first donkey he’d seen since leaving Afghanistan. Now he realized he’d missed all the donkey carts and donkey noises that had been part of life back home. He remembered the sun slanting through the dust, the rattle of wooden carts, and the clip-clop of hooves on the dry, narrow streets... all so different to this little green field. But the donkey was just like donkeys everywhere, with his big face and grey coat with the stripe running down the middle of his back, and another stripe running down his shoulder.
    He vaulted over the fence and made his way over.
    ‘Hello,’ he greeted him, in Pashtun.
    The donkey was watching him approach. As he got closer, he raised his head and began to bray noisily, showing all his big yellow teeth. Sammi paused for a moment. He didn’t feel at all afraid, but he wanted the donkey to get a good look at him before he went any closer.
    ‘Ee-yore, eeee-yore!’ bellowed the donkey. He was really loud!
    Sammi grinned, then stepped closer and held out his hand. The donkey stopped braying. His ears pricked forward, and he stretched