Xena Pearl was just a young dog but she took her sheep guarding duties very seriously. She grew up with goats but her mother told her, "Some folks have sheep, so you might get a job taking care of sheep instead of goats." "What`s a sheep?" Asked Xena Pearl. "Do they butt you like goats?"
"A sheep is kinda like a goat, but usually white, like you, and wooly..."
"What`s wooly?" Her mother sighed. "You`ll find out," she answered and that was that.
And sure `nuff, she got a job minding a flock of sheep and found out what wooly was, and that sometimes they might butt her if she got too nosy about a new lamb.. Xena Pearl and the sheep were snoozing in the barn one afternoon when the farmer came into the barn yard.
"Let`s go to the donkey pasture," she said and then she looked at all the sheep and said, "Baaa." The sheep got up. Xena Pearl got up.
When the farmer said, "Baaa," that meant that everyone was supposed to follow her. Goats didn`t work that way, but then, Xena thought - sheep are different.
They all walked through a wood lot to another gate. Xena Pearl could see the donkeys off in the distance standing by a hay roll.
The farmer opened the gate and she and Xena Pearl went through it and all the sheep followed them. The farmer counted the sheep then led the sheep down a lane to another pasture that had grape vines along one side. Xena Pearl had never been in that pasture but some of the older sheep obviously had. They all ran to the grape vines with the lambs following them.
"You stay here with the sheep," the farmer said to Xena Pearl. "Keep an eye on them. Watch for coyotes!"
Xena Pearl knew what coyotes were. They were like dogs and they sang at night and sometimes ran along the boundary fence. When that happened, Xena would run out into the pasture and bark and bark at them and they would leave. She was much bigger than a coyote and when she barked her fur stood up and she looked even bigger. Piece of cake - she thought. No coyotes will bother the sheep when she was around.
And then she saw the cat. It was poking around in the leaves under a big oak tree. It was a strange looking cat with black and white stripes but it was a cat alright.
Cats are o.k. - she thought. But this was a different looking cat so maybe she should take a better look - just to make sure that it wouldn`t bother the sheep. She started to walk toward the cat.
The farmer was walking back to the sheep barn. The sheep were all eating grape leaves.
The cat was busy under the oak tree. It had a big bushy tail. Xena Pearl had never seen such a bushy tail on any other cat. This definitely was worth looking into.
Slowly she walked toward the cat. She didn`t want to scare it.
She was getting pretty close to that pretty black and white striped cat, when she heard the farmer`s voice. The farmer was yelling - "NO!" Xena Pearl stopped. The cat turned and looked at her.
"NO!" The farmer was yelling and running back to the pasture.
Xena Pearl took one more step toward that cat.
And the cat turned its back to her.
Well now - thought Xena - how unfriendly! She took one more step toward that cat.
Suddenly - an awful odor filled the air. The cat sprayed something horrid and burning into Xena Pearl`s face and eyes. Xena scrambled backwards - her eyes were tearing and burning.
The cat ran off.
"Damn!" The farmer was right behind her. "Now you`ve done it," she said. "Just look at you! Now what are we going to do?"
Xena Pearl swiped at her face with her paws until she could see, then whirled around and ran back to the sheep yard. "What?" Exclaimed the farmer.
But Xena Pearl ran and ran until she reached the sheep water trough. She jumped in and dunked her head in the water again and again. Then she jumped out and rolled over and over in the sand until she was not a white dog anymore but all gray and sandy with oak leaves sticking to her fur. She was rubbing her face in the oak leaves when the farmer walked up, followed by all of the sheep.
They hung back from her. "Eewww," said the sheep.
"What kind of cat was that?" Xena asked.
"You silly dog!" The farmer was laughing. "Bet you`ll never mess with a skunk again!"
A skunk!
Her mother never told her about skunks. But now she knew ...
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