Tashi: Human's Wolf, Chocolatemeerkat [best free ereader .TXT] 📗

Anna sat in her living room, beside their log fire. It was incredibly cold, and a heavy snowstorm had left Anna and her family with no heating.
The Nariss family were farmers of sheep, deer and goats. They'd lived in the country for most of their lives, they really weren't made for the city. Anna especially loved to watch all the wildlife and help her family out on the farm. Her job was to clean out bedding and a couple other various tasks, but Anna's favourite was to help the youngest animals when they were born. If they were refused by their mother, it would be up to Anna and the rest of her family to care for it.
As Anna thought about it, her Uncle Sam came in. "Howdy Anna, we've got some pretty important jobs for ya to do, kiddo." He said. "Some mama goat don't want her kid, and ya gotta' bottle-feed it. Ya got it?"
"Alright. Is it male or female?" Anna asked, standing up. Uncle Sam quickly scratched his chin and then turned back to his niece. "I think ya mama said it was a dude. Ask er', not me." Anna nodded and fetched her coat from the hallway. She then opened the back door and rushed into the farmyard.
On the way in, she sent a brief greeting to her old Shetland pony Jumper, who was grazing in the bright green grass. He was more than twice Anna's age, and he'd lived on the farm longer than her.
Anna had heard recently that Jumper was now deaf, unable to hear anything coming. His eyesight was still sharp as when he was younger, which was good, otherwise he wouldn't be here now. Anna's dad James had said if Jumper became blind and deaf, then he would be put down. Many of the family were against this, but it was apparently 'for his own good'.
"Is that you, Anna?" Her mum called. "I've got a young goat here with no mother. She didn't want him anymore."
"I'm coming, Mum." Anna replied, running in. She could now see her mother Heidi crouched down beside a little goat. The sheep were baaing away outside, and the goats were baahing loudly. Anna ignored them and sat down cross-legged beside the kid. "What will be his name?"
"I think Tiny will suit him. He's the smallest kid I've ever seen." Heidi said, stroking him gently with her hands. Anna picked him up and smiled. "Tiny's a nice name. We'll keep him at Tiny." She decided.
Suddenly the animals outside started to make a huge racket. Something had obviously spooked them. Anna placed Tiny into Heidi's arms and rushed outside.
"Anna!" Her cousin Lily cried. "Something's killed one of the sheep!" Anna was over to Lily's side instantly. She was right, one of the ewes were lying motionless on the ground, covered in blood. Anna put her hand over her mouth and sat down beside the dead sheep. She inspected it, and turned back to Lily. "Something murdered her. She's got bites and scratches all over her."
"Yes, but what?" Lily questioned her older cousin.
As Lily finshed, a pair of yellow eyes appeared in the bushes. Lily screamed and ran into the barn, but then Anna heard men shouting. A gun then fired, and all the birds took off into the sky. The teenager stood back, fumbling around in her pocket for her penknife that Sam had given her.
"Get 'er!" A voice rasped. The yellow eyes flashed a warning, and then the thing appeared. Anna's eyes popped out of their sockets when she realised the thing was a black wolf. That must have killed the ewe.

She thought anxiously.
The wolf was female, with a small splash of white on her chest. Her muzzle was covered in blood, and she was so thin her rib bones were very noticable. She looked like she had been beaten badly. Anna couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
"Anna! Get away from that wolf!" Heidi screamed, rushing over with Lily and James. Uncle Sam and the rest of the family apart from Gran and some various other cousins came over, staring at the wolf.
Some big men then scrambled out of the bushes, and pointed their guns at the wolf. One of them glared at the family. "Excuse us, but this wolf has no right to be 'ere. She's another stray, and she ain't staying 'ere."
"She's a wolf, for God's sake." James argued. "Nothing more. Wolves are endangered, you know. Are you trying to make them extinct?"
"Of course not, sir." The man said. "Tell ya what, if we can take 'er off ya land, we'll give ya some money. Lots of it. Are ye intrested?"
"Please Dad, say no." Anna begged. "They're going to kill her." The wolf seemed to understand what Anna had said, and she slowly approached the teenager. She was showing no threat, and her eyes were friendly and warm. Anna reached out her hand and stroked her.
"Don't touch 'er, kiddie." The man rasped. "She's dangerous an a murderer at heart."
"She's just hungry. Why kill a safe wolf? Look, she's not eaten my hand off." Anna retorted. "I'm not willing to let you savage beasts kill this beautiful animal, and I am sure that the rest of my family agree."
A couple of mummers broke out between the rest of the Nariss family. James stood up taller and made his decision. "My daughter states a fair point. We, as a family, have decided to not let you poachers kill a starving, injured creature. Now get off our land or we're calling the police."
"We're warning ya, that blooming wolf will cause ya so much grief." The man said angrily, walking away with his friends. Anna sighed in relief. "Well, seeing as we're keeping her, we'd better give her a name."
"Why don't you use one of those native names?" Her cousin Jessie suggested. "Like Solli, meaning 'moon'." Anna thought for a moment, and then she thought of a perfect name. "I'll call her Tashi, meaning 'journey'. We can shorten it down to Tas or Tash. And after all, she has completed a journey to find us."
"Tashi it is then." James said. "Anna will mainly be reasonable for looking after her, but we will all treat Tashi like one of us. Like she is a member of this family."

"You'll never believe what popped out of no where today!" Anna explained to her best friend Sasha over the phone.
"Go on then." Sasha said. Anna was trembling with excitement as she said "A wolf appeared at our farm today, and we saved her from poachers! We actually get to keep her!"
Silence. Sasha didn't say a single word. Not even a joke. This was very unatural for Sasha, because she was loud and always cracked up laughing.
Does she think I'm boasting?

Anna thought worriedly. To her relief, Sasha started talking again, but in a low voice. "A wolf? You've got to be joking. Wolves are wild and dangerous animals. They hunt down animals like the ones that live on your farm. The whole thing is impossible."
"Nothing's

impossible." Anna argued. "I have to go and bottle feed one of the reject kids, bye."
Without waiting for a reply, Anna put down the phone and groaned. Why was her best friend acting so stupid? Did she not believe anything about the wolf?
Remembering about the goat kid, Anna went into the kitchen and saw Lily sitting beside Tiny. She looked up and smiled at her older cousin. "Mum's nipped to the supermarket, we're a tad low on milk. The milk we drink, not the one we feed to the critters."
"No offence, but your accent is so annoying." Anna sighed. Lily had a Scottish accent, because she used to live in Scotland, but a few days ago she had come to Canada to see family. Anna had a English accent, but she had moved to Canada a few months ago. She still did return to England to visit her older brother Nathan, who refused to move in the first place.
"At least I haven't got a accent like Uncle Sam." Lily retorted. She then stood up and pretended to be her uncle. "Lily, ya a blooming twit, ya know." Her tone and accent were spot on.
"You're lucky Uncle Sam wasn't actually in this room, otherwise today would have been your funeral." Anna joked. Her eyes then slid towards the hallway. "Is Tashi alright?" Lily nodded. "She's sleeping. I think she's tired after her journey."
"Oi! Less of the chit-chat and more of feeding that blooming goat!" Gran called fiercely from the living room. Lily muttered a few swear words and stalked away, leaving Anna to care for Tiny.
As Anna wrapped the little goat up in a blanket and fed him the milk, there was a knock at the door and a loud howling. Tashi had obviously been woken up, and she wasn't pleased.
"Will someone shut that wolf up and open the door!" Gran rasped angrily. Anna rushed out and sat beside Tashi. "Shh, or you won't stay here much longer. Please be quiet." She whispered. To her geniune suprise, Tashi actually piped down and sat on the blanket she had been sleeping on. Anna unlocked the door and saw the postman, holding some letters and a package in his white hands. "This was sent in from England. Special Delivery." He annonced, handing Anna the post. He then left sharpish, and Anna carefully shut the door.
As she skipped into the living room, she was trembling with excitement. Had her brother actually mailed her something good?
"Anything there for me?" James called. He then muttered something, and Uncle Sam rushed in. "Your pa wants to know if ya got anything for 'im." He annonced, glaring at Anna.
"There's nothing there, just a package for me and some various other letters." She went through the letters and then stopped when she saw a letter for Lily. It had unsually neat handwriting, and the envolope was covered in sketches. Anna thought it was a bit suspicious, but she called her cousin and gave her the letter. The teen then dumped the other letters on the TV and started to open the package sent from her former home.
It took a while to open, but Anna finally got it open. She realised that the package enclosed a small letter and a photo frame. Anna opened up the letter and stared at it, reading each line.

To Anna,
Life has been great here. The sun's been out a lot, and everyone's relaxing. Summer has obviously come early, but the tempatures can get quite harsh at night. I heard that Canada has been hit with a snowstorm recently. Are all of your animals alright?

About the film making