LITTLE BLACK BALLS (6)

LITTLE BLACK BALLS (6)

That night I found it hard to sleep.
I snuck out twice and serched around in the night with a torch.

But no opal. Just more of same.

In the morning I dressed for school. I found a small cardboard box and borrowed a cheese knife from the kitchen.

Then I went to check on Billy.
He was gone.

" Oh no, " I groaned. I scooped up the new droppings near the fence and put them in a box.

Then I followed the trail.

Out through the hole in the hedge and down the lane.
The pile in the box grew bigger.

Finally I found him. His chain was tangled around a letterbox.

The silly goat was munching away on someone's roses.

I didn't know what to do. If I tied Billy up he might get away again.
And if the opal made an appearance someone else could find it.

I thought of the little kangaroo. And my friend the Paper Man.

I had to make the supreme sacrifice.

" Billy, " I said. " You are coming to school. "

Well, talk about terrible. The first class was music. I sat there looking out of the window hardly singing at all.

I could see Billy outside where I had left him. Chained up to a post on the school oval.
He was straining on the chain. Looking towards me.

I had the box of goat poo under the desk.
I hadn't had time to examine it carefully for the opal.
I slippedup the lid and started cutting open th little black balls with the cheese knife.

My hands were shaking with excitement. I didn't notice that the class had stopped singing. The silence was deafening.

Suddenly Irealised. Everyone was looking at me. Shame.
I tried to close the lid but my shaking hands let me down.

The box fell onto the floor. The cotents of Billy's belly scattered everywhere.

The kids laughed and jeered. They looked at me with disgust. I felt like a creep.

While all of this was happening, Billy had been busy.
Goat are stupid things. It was lonely. It wanted to find me.
Billy wandered through the front door ad straight into the classroom.

" Who own this goat ? " yelled Ms Quaver.

Every one looked at me.

" Sally Sampson, " she said. " I might have known. What on earth have you brought a goat to school for ? And wha's that filthy stuff on the floor ? "

I didn't know what to say. My head seemed as if it was ging to explode.

The kids were all giggling and laughing.

" I've got asthma, " I blurted out. " I have to drink fresh goat's milk every hour."

There was a long silence.

" You are not going to get much milk from the billy goat, "said Ms Quaver i a sarcastic voice.

The kids packed up. Talk about laugh.
They rlled around on the floor, helpless with mad mirth.
Some kids held their sides as they hooted and cackled.

I felt stupid. Caught out in a silly lie. 

(つづく  6/9)