Sammi and Dusty Read Online Free PDF Page B

neck. Dusty stopped braying at once, and stood patiently as Sammi patted and stroked him.
    Asha was amazed. ‘How did you do that?’ she asked excitedly.
    She let herself into the field, with Jack and Kerry behind her. Sammi looked wary, and a little hunched, almost as though he was expecting them all to tell him off.
    ‘I not hurt him,’ he said in a defensive voice.
    ‘Of course you’re not hurting him! He likes you!’ laughed Asha.
    Sammi was studying everyone’s faces. He looked puzzled. ‘You are not angry?’ he asked, glancing up at Kerry.
    ‘Angry? No, of course not! It looks like you’ve just made a friend!’ smiled Kerry.
    Asha saw relief spread over Sammi’s face. So he had thought they were annoyed with him! But why? He hadn’t done anything wrong. She suddenly felt sorry for him, and realized how hard it must be when there was so much that you didn’t understand.
    She still wasn’t quite sure that she wanted to get close to Dusty though. She stood a couple of paces away while Sammi continued to stroke him. ‘Dusty never stands quietly for me. He just scares me with his big yellow teeth and all the noise he makes! He’s so grumpy.’
    Sammi frowned. ‘He is what?’ he asked quietly. ‘What this word?’
    ‘Grumpy! Um, it means...’ Asha looked round to Kerry for help.
    Kerry pulled a long, cross face, and made a growly, bad-tempered sound. ‘This is grumpy,’ she explained.
    Asha copied her, and tried to make a grumpy donkey sound too. ‘Grumpy means... not happy,’ she explained. ‘He doesn’t like other people. He’s always in a bad mood!’
    Understanding slowly spread across Sammi’s face. He looked from Asha to Kerry, and repeated the word slowly, trying to get the sound right. ‘Groompy. Graampy. No. Grumpy. Gr um py. Is a good word.’ He smiled slightly. ‘But this donkey is not grumpy. He is trying to say hello.’
    He placed his head close to Dusty’s, then imitated his braying sound. ‘Hel-lo... Hel-lo...!’
    Asha giggled. Sammi could really be quite funny, when he started to relax.
    ‘Donkeys not speak English either,’ Sammi said. ‘I think this donkey like to have friends.’
    ‘Oh! I wish you’d arrived here sooner,’ said Asha, laughing. ‘Just think – all this time, Dusty was just trying to be friendly, and we didn’t know what he was saying!’
    Sammi met her gaze. He looked sad, and she realized that maybe the same thing was true for him too. She smiled at him warmly. ‘Let’s take him into the yard,’ she said. ‘I’ll show you where we keep all the grooming things. You can brush him down – he’ll love that.’
    But now the bad-tempered look was back on Sammi’s face. He glanced at Kerry. ‘My job is not donkey,’ he said. ‘I think rabbits.’
    ‘No, no, that’s all right, Sammi,’ said Kerry. ‘Don’t worry about the rabbits. It’s more important for you to work with an animal that really interests you.’
    Sammi looked shocked, as though he hadn’t quite got what she said. But then he worked it out, and his face split into a real smile for the first time. He stared at Dusty in disbelief. ‘I can... um... look after the donkey?’ he asked.
    ‘Yes, you look after Dusty,’ said Kerry. ‘Dusty’s just as happy as you are! Aren’t you, Dusty?’
    Dusty raised his head and brayed again.
    ‘I think he say yes,’ smiled Sammi.
    * * *
    Asha fetched a head collar from the storerooms, and, feeling a little bit nervous, she helped Sammi put it over Dusty’s big ears. She half expected Dusty to snap at her with his big teeth, but with Sammi soothing him, he stayed calm and gentle. As they led him through to the yard, Dusty ‘eeee-yored’ once, but he soon stopped when Sammi made a fuss of him. Asha grinned as she realized that the donkey just wanted people to notice him a bit more!
    It had been so nice to see Sammi and Dusty getting along so well that she’d almost forgotten about Derrick Jarvis. Now she decided not to think