Sammi and Dusty (6 page)

‘Dusty!’ Sammi leaned over the gate, calling his friend.

The donkey raised his head and immediately brayed a greeting. With the head collar slung over his shoulder, Sammi let himself into the paddock. Dusty trotted towards him through the grass, which was still sparkling with dew – it was early on Saturday 11 October, and Sammi wanted to make the most of every minute he had left on City Farm.

Dusty nosed Sammi’s pockets for carrots, as usual. ‘Just one,’ said Sammi, fishing one out. ‘You can have more once we’ve had some fun!’

While Dusty chewed up the carrot, Sammi slipped the head collar over his head. Then, still holding the lead rope, he vaulted onto the donkey’s back.

‘Come on, Dusty, let’s go!’ he said, giving the donkey’s sides a little kick with his heels.

Dusty seemed puzzled for a minute, so Sammi nudged him again. ‘Come on, Dusty,’ he whispered.

Suddenly, with a snort, Dusty leaped into life. He trotted across the paddock, around the old oak tree and back towards the gate. Sammi grinned from ear to ear. This was exactly what he and his cousin used to do in Afghanistan!

With another nudge of his heels, Dusty broke into a canter. ‘That’s it! That’s it!’ yelled Sammi. ‘Faster, Dusty!’

Dusty was getting very excited now. He tore around the field, making Stanley and Swift look up from grazing to stare. Stanley whinnied loudly. He was clearly surprised at his friend’s strange behaviour! With his tail held high, he came and trotted alongside for a few strides, before getting bored and going back to his grass.

Around they went again. Out of the corner of his eye, Sammi saw Asha appear at the gate, so he gave a little tug on the lead rope to slow the donkey down. ‘That’s enough, Dusty!’ he called. ‘Whoa, boy!’

Dusty charged up to the gate, then stopped dead. In fact, he stopped so suddenly that Sammi slid forward down his shoulder and landed with a bump on the grass.

‘Sammi!’ exclaimed Asha. ‘Are you OK?’

Sammi was laughing so hard he could hardly catch his breath. He managed to nod, and felt Dusty nuzzling his hair with his rubbery lips. ‘I... fine,’ he said eventually. ‘This grass very soft!’ He struggled to his feet and threw his arms around Dusty’s neck. ‘This very good, Dusty, no? We have much fun.’

Asha was looking a little bit shocked. ‘I’ve never seen anything quite like that!’ she said. ‘You were going so fast, and you don’t even have a saddle!’

‘I not need saddle,’ said Sammi. ‘This how I ride in Afghanistan. You want try?’

‘Oh! No, thank you,’ said Asha quickly. She grinned. ‘I’m glad you’ve both been enjoying yourselves so much though! It did look exciting.’

Dusty seemed to agree, because he stretched out his neck and started to bray. ‘Ee-yore, ee-yore!’ he went.

‘That enough now, Dusty,’ Sammi told him. ‘Come on. You be good for Asha.’

He stroked Dusty’s neck, and the donkey quietened down. Then he nuzzled Sammi’s pockets.

‘He remember!’ laughed Sammi. ‘I promise him carrot after we ride.’

‘You know, he’s so different now,’ said Asha. ‘He’s so happy, like a completely different donkey! It would be so unfair if he has to leave. If
anyone
has to leave! Oh, Sammi – I really, really hope our petition works. I’ve worked so hard this week, trying to get signatures. Did you get some as well?’

‘Of course,’ said Sammi. ‘Come, I show you. Petition in feed room, in my bag.’

He unclipped the head collar and gave Dusty a pat. ‘I come back later,’ he promised the donkey.

Together, he and Asha walked up to the yard. Sammi found his petition and they counted the names on it.

‘...forty-one... forty-two... forty-three!’ Sammi finished, in English.

Forty-three names, all collected by him and Giti. He stared at the sheet. He could hardly believe what he’d managed to do. He felt very proud of himself, but at the same time, he was worried. The petition had to work. It just
had
to!

Asha looked at his sheet in admiration. ‘You did so well, Sammi!’

Sammi smiled at her. He knew that Asha would have collected loads more names than him, but that was hardly surprising, she was so friendly!

‘Come on, let’s go and show Kerry,’ said Asha.

‘OK,’ said Sammi, and they hurried up to the barn.

Inside, even though it was still so early, the whole place was in turmoil. Kerry had started packing away her most important paperwork, just in case they had to move everything out. Rory had packed up many of his belongings in the farmhouse, and some of his boxes were now piled up in the barn. Sammi stared at the scene, a lump rising in his throat. He couldn’t believe that this really might be the end for City Farm.

‘Ah, you two! There you are!’ called Kerry. ‘I’m just counting the names on the petitions. I think we’ve done pretty well... let me see yours...’

Asha and Sammi added their sheets to the pile that Kerry had in front of her, just as Rory came in through the big wooden door carrying a heavy box. He dumped it down as Kerry flicked through the petition sheets.

‘Wow! You two have done us proud!’ exclaimed Kerry. ‘I think this will take our total to over five hundred signatures!’

Asha jumped up and down in excitement. ‘Five hundred! That’s loads! They
can’t
close us down!’

But Sammi was watching Kerry and Rory. They didn’t look quite so excited. He could see they wanted to believe the petition would work, but they didn’t dare. He took in the boxes piled everywhere, and the stacks of papers on Kerry’s desk. He knew all about packing. When you were about to leave a place you loved, you couldn’t bear to move all the things that made your life so special. You didn’t do it unless you thought you really, really had to.

‘Let’s wait and see, Asha,’ said Kerry. ‘It’s good to know that we have all this support. That feels nice, even if...’ Her voice trailed off, and she sighed.

‘But I know so many people are coming tomorrow!’ said Asha. ‘They’re all going to tell the council what they think! There’ll be hundreds of people here...’

‘That’s great, Asha,’ said Kerry. Her voice was oddly flat. ‘But the truth is, we have to be ready to close down. That means packing things away, and saying goodbye to the animals. You know we’ve had to make arrangements for them all to go somewhere else.’

Asha’s face fell, and there was a brief silence. Sammi knew that Kerry had worked incredibly hard over the last week. She’d spent hours on the phone, ringing rescue homes and farms and even pet shops, trying to find good homes for all the animals.

‘Aye,’ said Rory. ‘I wish I believed this petition would work. But I’ve known Derrick Jarvis for a good few years. He likes to get his papers in order. If he says we’re closing, then... we probably are.’ He looked as though he was carrying a big heavy sack of sorrow on his shoulders.

‘Rory,’ asked Sammi. ‘Where will you go? City Farm your home. You have somewhere to sleep?’

‘Bless you, lad,’ said Rory. ‘Don’t you worry about me. I have a brother up north, with a farm. I’ll be going to stay with him.’

Sammi was glad. He couldn’t bear the thought of Rory being homeless. But he felt terribly sad too, because he might not be seeing him any more. Or Kerry, or any of the friendly staff in the City Farm cafe. Worst of all, he wouldn’t be able to see Dusty...

* * *

Sammi joined Rory and Jack in the farmhouse, helping them to pack Rory’s belongings, then shift boxes to the barn. They worked at it all morning, only stopping for a quick sandwich. Then Kerry asked Sammi and Asha to take down all the lovely children’s pictures that lined the walls of the barn. Asha made sure they packed them really neatly, so that they wouldn’t be damaged.

‘You never know – we might be able to put them back up again, if the petition works!’ she said.

‘I hope you right,’ agreed Sammi.

When at last they’d finished, Sammi went out back out to the paddock. He approached slowly this time, looking at Stanley, Swift and Dusty as they munched their way across the grass. Dusty had calmed down from his early-morning adventure, and was grazing alongside Stanley and Swift. They had no idea what was about to happen to them, he thought sadly.

‘Dusty!’ he called, stepping up to the fence.

The donkey looked pleased to see Sammi again. ‘Eeee-yore, eeee-yore!’ he squealed, then trotted over to the gate.

Sammi stroked his long, furry face. ‘I’m going to miss you,’ he told him. ‘You’re the first friend I made here at City Farm. You’ve helped me a lot, did you know that?’

Dusty butted Sammi’s arm, then started to nibble at his sleeve.

‘Hey!’ laughed Sammi. ‘I know we’re friends, but you’re not supposed to eat me.’ He fished in his pocket and found half a carrot – the last one. ‘Here you are.’

Dusty crunched it up, then stood quietly, resting his head on Sammi’s arm.

‘I haven’t known you very long, but I think we understand each other pretty well, don’t we?’ Sammi carried on. He felt a bit silly, talking to a donkey. But then Dusty snorted through his nostrils and butted him gently again, as though he’d understood every word.

‘Sammi!’ called Asha’s voice. She ran around the side of the feed rooms and along to the field gate. ‘I’ve come to say goodbye to Stanley and Swift and Dusty. Then I want to go and see Curly and Lizzie, then all the goats – and then I have to spend lots of time with Bubble and Squeak because they’re my favourites...’ She leaned over the gate and patted Dusty’s neck. ‘I so wish we had longer with them all,’ she said wistfully. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself if I don’t have City Farm to come to!’

Sammi nodded. He hadn’t been coming to City Farm anywhere near as long as Asha, but it had already made such a difference to him. He looked around, thinking that there would soon be big houses sitting right here, where the sunshine was beaming down through the trees and lighting up Dusty’s coat... It was an awful thought. He couldn’t bear to imagine it.

‘Let’s go and see the other animals together,’ suggested Asha.

The afternoon sun seemed to give everything a golden glow as they wandered around the farm. Curly and Lizzie ran over, bleating, as they reached their paddock, and the goats gave them a noisy welcome too.

‘They all think it’s feeding time!’ said Asha. ‘I wish we could explain to them exactly what’s happening. It’s not fair, it’s really not!’

They scratched heads and patted necks and made a fuss of everyone, then moved on to say goodbye to Cynthia, the Tamworth pig. They were just approaching her sty when they heard Kerry’s voice floating from the direction of the barn. ‘Asha! Sammi! Where are you?’

‘Coming!’ they called.

Kerry was standing in the barn doorway holding a big tray of cakes from the cafe. ‘We have a very useful job for everyone,’ she explained. ‘We don’t want these cakes to go to waste. We need to finish them off today, so we’re going to gather everyone in the pony paddock to have a picnic.’

‘Oh! That’s a wonderful idea! I love picnics!’ said Asha. She hesitated. ‘But I haven’t said a proper goodbye to the rabbits and guinea pigs yet. Do you think they could join us, somehow?’

‘Well, as this might be our last full day, I think we should include as many of the animals as possible,’ said Kerry. ‘I’ve already asked Rory and Jack to sort out some mini pens for the smaller animals. The others can all just join in for once!’

‘Brilliant,’ enthused Asha. ‘Sammi and I can go around telling everyone what’s happening! And can we get treats together for all the animals to eat as well?’

‘Yes, of course,’ said Kerry. ‘That would be really helpful.’

‘We’ll get started then,’ said Asha. ‘Is that OK with you, Sammi?’

But Sammi had no idea what they were talking about. He was feeling completely lost. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘What is
peekinick
?’

Asha clapped her hand to her forehead. ‘Oh, Sammi, I’m sorry!’ she exclaimed. ‘Of course you don’t know what a picnic is. It’s when we get food from inside and take it outside somewhere lovely – like a beach at the seaside, or the middle of a wood, or the pony paddock! Then we all sit around on the ground to eat it.’

‘Oh.’ Sammi was puzzled. Asha seemed really excited, but he couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. It was quite normal to eat outside, sitting on the ground – they used to do it in Afghanistan all the time.

‘Come on. It’ll be lovely,’ Asha carried on. ‘Let’s go and tell Cynthia first – we were going there anyway! And we’ll sort out some treats for her to eat.’

‘What is treats?’ asked Sammi.

‘Treats are the favourite naughty things that everyone loves to eat,’ explained Asha. ‘They’re the things that you’re not allowed to have too often!’

‘We have treats too, at this
peekinick
?’

‘Oh, yes, lots,’ said Asha. ‘Didn’t you see all those cakes that Kerry was holding?’

Sammi was beginning to like the sound of this. He followed Asha as she skipped off towards the feed room.

‘We can take some swedes for Cynthia,’ said Asha. ‘She loves them! And while we’re here, we can collect a bucket of pony nuts for Dusty and the horses. Perhaps you could do that while I get the swedes?’

Sammi went over to the sacks of feed and shovelled a couple of scoops of tasty-looking brown pony nuts into one of the buckets. He popped a few in his pocket too, just in case. He’d never seen special feed like that before coming to the UK, and he couldn’t imagine that they tasted very nice. But then he’d seen the donkey tuck in, and it was clear that Dusty adored them!

They headed towards Cynthia’s pen with Asha chattering all the way. ‘We can take Cynthia down to the paddock,’ she said. ‘She’ll follow anyone who’s carrying something tasty. If we’re not careful she’ll try to eat all the pony nuts too – and our sandwiches and all the cakes!’

Sammi laughed at the thought of the pig trying to steal everyone’s food. They arrived at her pen. Cynthia caught one whiff of the swedes and she was at her gate in no time, snuffling and grunting.

‘Come on then, Cynthia!’ laughed Asha. ‘Follow us!’

It was really funny, watching the fat orange pig trotting after them down the yard. Inside the paddock, they placed the swedes in one corner. Cynthia grunted in excitement and started to gobble them up.

‘Those swedes won’t last long!’ laughed Rory. He and Jack were busy with bits of wood and netting, so Asha and Sammi went to take a look.

‘We’ve already fixed some netting around some posts here,’ said Jack. ‘D’you and Sammi want to go and get the rabbits and guinea pigs?’

‘We’d love to!’ beamed Asha. ‘Let’s go, Sammi!’

As they headed out of the field, Bea appeared with a big tray of sandwiches. Kerry was just behind her, carrying an old rug.

‘Let’s lay the rug near the old oak tree,’ said Kerry. ‘That’s the perfect place for a picnic!’

‘Oooh! We’re nearly ready,’ exclaimed Asha. ‘We’d better hurry up, Sammi, or there won’t be any treats left!’

‘Don’t worry,’ laughed Kerry. ‘There’s plenty to go round. And we won’t start without you!’

Asha and Sammi rushed off towards the rabbit and guinea pig runs. Asha picked up Custard and handed her to Sammi. ‘Can you take her?’ she asked. ‘We’ll have to do shifts to get them all there one by one!’

Sammi was surprised at how heavy the rabbit was. She stayed quiet in his arms as he hurried back to the paddock, and put her down in her special picnic pen. Custard started nibbling at the lovely lush grass straight away. Then Asha arrived with Crumble. By the time they’d fetched the two other rabbits and the two guinea pigs, Rory and Jack had fetched the goats and sheep to join the picnic, while Bea and the other cafe workers had added lots of cakes to all the yummy sandwiches.

‘Come and sit down, Sammi!’ called Kerry, who had settled down on one corner of the rug.

Sammi sat down next to her and crossed his legs, just like he used to do in Afghanistan. This picnic was making him feel quite at home.

Then Rory appeared from the barn with big jugs of home-made lemonade. ‘We used to drink gallons of this when I was a lad,’ he said. ‘As far as I’m concerned, you can’t have a picnic without it!’

All the bustle and all the different animals made Dusty, Stanley and Swift very curious. They stopped grazing and came over, their ears pricked forward. Asha and Sammi tipped the pony nuts onto the grass, so that all three of them could have some.

As soon as there were none left, Dusty started to bray loudly, and Kerry put her hands over her ears.

‘Sammi! Can you make him stop?’ she asked.

‘I think so,’ grinned Sammi. He got up and went to Dusty’s side, then delved into his pocket. ‘I keep a few pony nut here.’

Dusty was very happy to see the nuts, and munched them in double-quick time. Sammi went back to sit on the rug, and Dusty followed him, gazing hopefully at the picnic.

‘I think he want cake,’ said Sammi.

‘Hmm, yes, I’m sure he does,’ said Kerry. ‘But I think pony nuts are quite enough!’

They all began to tuck into the mountains of food from the cafe. As they did so, a little stripy furry creature appeared – Silky the cat! She made her way around everyone, rubbing herself against their legs and purring.

‘Oh! We haven’t got a treat for Silky,’ said Asha.

‘Don’t worry about that,’ said Bea. ‘One of the cream cakes tipped off a tray near the barn, and guess who licked up the cream?’

‘That’s all right then!’ giggled Asha. ‘We wouldn’t want you to miss out, Silky!’

Rory reached for a big slice of pork pie. ‘Ah, this takes me back,’ he said, after munching a big bite. ‘I remember the early days, when we first opened the farm to visitors. It was a glorious summer, hardly rained at all! And there was old Mrs Davies who used to make chutney to go with the pies. Delicious, it was – we used to sell pots and pots of it.’

‘I remember that chutney,’ agreed Kerry. ‘She was famous for it! Such a pity she moved away.’

Just then, Stanley the pony came over and butted Kerry with his soft nose. ‘Hello, Stanley!’ she greeted him. ‘I expect you remember your first days here too, don’t you?’ She began to explain to everyone what happened. ‘He was really lonely because his owner had died, and he’d been left on his own in his field,’ she said. ‘He was on his own here too, when he first came to us, and he hated it every time I left him – he’d call and call until I was out of sight. So I decided to come and eat my sandwiches with him at lunch time, to keep him happy.’

‘That must have been before Dusty arrived then,’ said Jack.

‘Oh yes, it was,’ said Kerry. ‘Dusty made a big difference to him. He might have seemed grumpy to us, but Stanley didn’t mind. They soon became great friends!’

Sammi listened, then smiled. ‘You see,’ he said to everyone. ‘Dusty always useful. He help Stanley, and he help me.’

Kerry laughed. ‘That’s true, Sammi! And I’m sure that with you next to him, he could become even more useful – he could start giving children donkey rides!’

‘I like that,’ declared Sammi. ‘Yes, I think that very good idea.’

‘I think you’re forgetting something,’ said Rory quietly.

The picnic suddenly fell silent. Of course. Dusty might never get a chance to be so useful. This might be City Farm’s last day. Sammi felt a wave of sadness. Asha put her slice of cake back down on her plate, and looked glum. Jack frowned, and laid his head on his knees.

‘Now, come on, everyone,’ said Bea brightly. ‘This won’t do. Let’s take it a day at a time. Who knows what will happen? We’re having a lovely picnic and there are still some delicious cream cakes waiting to be eaten.’

‘Well said, Bea!’ said Kerry. ‘You can pass me one of those cakes, please!’

They were all so busy chatting and eating that they didn’t notice what was happening behind Rory’s back. It was Sammi who noticed first.

‘Rory!’ he exclaimed. ‘See – the goats!’

The greedy goats had spotted the cakes, just to the edge of the rug. And they were all gathered around it, tucking in!

‘Hey!’ yelled Rory, scrambling to his feet. ‘They’re not for you! You’ve had your treats. Shoo, shoo!’

The goats snatched what they could before running off under the trees to join Curly and Lizzie, who were being much better behaved, happily eating grass.

Rory sat down again, shaking his head. ‘Goats. You need eyes in the back of your head with them, you really do.’

‘I think all goats same,’ said Sammi. ‘In Afghanistan, they like eat everything too.’

‘Did they get many of those pastries?’ asked Bea. ‘Cheeky things. I spent ages making them!’

‘There’s a few they haven’t touched,’ said Rory. ‘Not many though!’

‘Never mind. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m full,’ said Kerry. ‘I don’t think I could eat another thing!’

Sammi had to agree. He’d eaten a mound of sandwiches and three big slices of cake, all washed down with Rory’s delicious lemonade.

The warm autumn day was drawing to a close, the old oak and horse chestnut trees in the paddock casting long shadows over the grass. As the others began to pack away the picnic, he wasn’t sure he could move! And he certainly didn’t want to. Life at City Farm was so special. He looked around at all the faces that had welcomed him – especially Jack, Asha and Dusty. In a short space of time, he had become part of this little community. At last, he felt like he belonged.