Shannon and the Shepherd

Shannon looked out at the backyard and smiled. Mommy Eva had said she could play! Shannon hopped down the back steps and screamed for joy. Then she picked up the cat and hugged her close. The door slammed and her foster sisters, Missy and Rochelle, ran past her. Shannon dropped the cat and followed them.

“Let’s play sheep!” Missy suggested. “Baa, baa!”

“Baa, baa!” said little Rochelle.

“I will be the shepherd,” said Shannon. “Come sheep!”

“Say, tah-hoo!” commanded Missy.

“I’m going to say it,” Shannon said. “Tah-hoo!”

“Baa, baa, baa!” said the girls. Shannon led the way across the yard and they followed. “Baa, baa!”

“Eat, sheep!” Shannon commanded.

“Munch, munch!” said Missy and Rochelle. They pulled the tall grass with their fingers. “Munch, munch, munch!”

Shannon looked around. No danger yet. “You have to huddle together when I say ‘huddle,’” she told her sheep.

The neighbor’s big brown dog came near the fence. “Huddle!” Shannon screamed. “There’s a wolf! Huddle, sheep, huddle!”

“Baa! Baa!” cried Missy. She grabbed onto Rochelle.

Shannon ran toward the fence. “Whack! Whack!” she called. “Go away bad wolf!” The big brown dog wagged his tail and sat down. “He’s gone now,” Shannon said, walking back to her sheep. “Come, sheep. Time for bed.” She marched off to the playhouse.

“Say, tah-hoo!” said Missy, following after her.

“Tah-hoo!” said Shannon. “No, I want to say it myself. I’m the shepherd. Lay, lay! You have to lay down, sheep.”

“Baa!” said Missy. She went into the playhouse. But where was Rochelle? Shannon looked around. Rochelle was running around the corner of the house!

“Stay here. I have to go get my lost sheep,” said Shannon. Off she ran to catch Rochelle.

“Baa, baa!” said Rochelle in her little lamb voice. “I’m hurt!”

“You shouldn’t run off. You are a bad sheep,” said Shannon. She grabbed Rochelle’s hand. “Now I will bring you home again.”

“Baa!” said Rochelle. Shannon took her back to the playhouse.

“Now lay down and be good!” she said.

The back door opened. “Time to come inside!” Mommy Eva called.

Shannon thought of the hot cocoa Mommy Eva had promised them. She hurried up the steps after the other girls.

“Guess what we were playing?” Missy said, kicking off her boots. “Shepherd and Sheep!”

“I was the shepherd,” Shannon added. “I said ‘huddle’ when the wolf came and I whacked him.”

“That sounds like a nice game,” Mommy Eva said with a smile. “Now it is time to pick up your things so we can be ready for supper.”

Shannon pulled off her coat and sat at the table. “I want hot cocoa!”

“You have to clean up first,” Mommy Eva said.

“I want hot cocoa!” Shannon opened her mouth and began to scream. Missy covered her ears.

“You’ll have to go to your room if you scream,” Mommy Eva said.

Shannon kept screaming and so Mommy Eva picked her up. Shannon was mad. She kicked and yelled, but she couldn’t get away. Then Mommy Eva put her inside the room and shut the door. Shannon screamed louder. Once she had been locked in a dark closet when her real mommy was mad and no one had listened to her scream. “You don’t love me! You make me scared!” Shannon yelled.

Mommy Eva opened the door. “Stop screaming, and you can come out,” she said. Shannon blinked back her tears and looked at her. Mommy Eva wasn’t mad.

“I’m—not—screaming—any—more,” Shannon said, between sobs.

“Are you ready to clean up?” Mommy Eva asked with a smile.

Shannon nodded. Mommy Eva took her hand and they went to pick up the toys.

Finally they were ready to sit down for supper. Shannon was hungry! She could hardly wait as Missy said the prayer.

Shannon smiled when she saw the cocoa cups. Then she looked into her half-full cup and frowned. “I want a lot.”

“Finish this first,” Mommy Eva said.

Shannon opened her mouth to scream. “I want a full cup! I can drink it!” she wailed.

Out to the bedroom she went again. Shannon screamed until she was tired. Finally she was ready to sit at the table quietly. The others were done eating. Mommy Eva warmed up her cocoa and sat beside her.

Shannon was very hungry now. She drank her cocoa in two big gulps. “I want some more, please,” she said.

Mommy Eva went to get more cocoa and Shannon looked out of the dark window. A train whistle blew and she shivered. “I don’t like the train,” she said.

Mommy Eva handed her the cocoa. “Does it make you scared?” she asked.

“It sounds like wolves.”

“And are you like a little sheep?” Mommy Eva asked. Shannon nodded.

Mommy Eva gave her a hug. “Jesus is the good Shepherd. He can keep you safe,” she whispered. “Jesus wants you to learn to listen to Mommy and not throw fits, just like sheep have to obey the shepherd.”

Shannon thought about that. “Does he say ‘huddle’ when the wolves come?”

“Yes, He says, ‘Huddle close to me and be safe, Shannon.’” Mommy Eva squeezed Shannon close. “Jesus loves the little lambs and He wants you to be safe in His arms.”

Shannon smiled. She heard the rumble of the train. “Huddle!” she whispered. Mommy Eva gave her another squeeze. It felt safe and warm.