Creative Writing: Lessons From A Llama

7 Lessons from a Llama

A light snow had fallen, the first of the winter in Colorado. The fog and darkness descended early, and in the distance Ebenezer heard the bells from a neighborhood church traveling through the chilled night air from a mile away. Climbing the narrow staircase and entering the loft through the padlocked door then padlocking it again on the inside, he looked out the fogged-over window at the swirling clouds. The cold became intense; everything foggier yet, and colder; piercing, searching, biting cold. If his long pointed nose, numbed by the vile weather as bones are gnawed by dogs, found him stooped down at the loft door to look through the peephole and regale him with a kind word, “Glad tiding, Ebenezer!

Our comfortable way of life may be in for a tumble. Last year, a couple llamas that were no longer needed in movies were sold to a packer in the Sierra Mountains. They have to pack heavy loads for hikers up and down the John Muir trail. No thank you; I don’t need that kind of brutal exercise. It may have been okay for my ancestors down in Peru, but not for me. I’m Americanized now.” Then he paused for a minute and remembered he had drifted from the question.
“Ebenezer, I thought you were going to ask me how my lady and I manage to remain friends despite having to spend all day cooped up in the same pen. I know you are a loner who has stayed married for many years despite ignoring your spouse and her needs such as, for instance, some occasional affection. My Ester would not tolerate that kind of behavior. How are you able to treat your spouse in such a manner and get her to stay with you? In fact, why do you even bother to have a spouse; you completely ignore her as a part of your life.” “Wow! Juan, you lay a heavy indictment. Do I look that

It’s like you are punishing her for the failure of your first marriage. Didn’t you learn anything from that? “I don’t know. I never gave it any thought.” “Ester and I have some differences, but we do enjoy the company of each other so we are willing to accept imperfections in each other. It seems you expect a lot of tolerance from your wife, yet overlook your lack of affection. Ester and I are llamas, animals with only our innate animal instincts; yet it seems we have a stronger devotion to each other than you with your superior intellect. That is difficult to understand - a sorry judgment of you.” He paused long enough to take a bite from the hay lying on the ground.
“Sorry Ebenezer Sackett if I’m preaching, but shame on you; while there is still time, get with it!” This delusion had taken such a jarring turn that it caused Ebenezer to awaken. He sat in his recliner in disbelief. Could the llama be correct? Or, was the llama only a delusion. Was he simply looking in a mirror of his own life - was it a sermon he was delivering to himself? Whether these creatures faded into the mist, or mist enshrouded them, he could not tell. But they disappeared from his view, and their spirit voices faded away; and the night became bitter