I got a phone call from the police station about my teenage llama this week, telling me some tourists had called them upon seeing a llama crossing the road, who âstopped when she saw usâ and ârefused to give wayâ (their complaint in French sounded amazingly traffic-related, âelle nâa pas cĂŠdĂŠ le passageââŚ) The policeman told them yeah thatâs our Pampe! donât worry about it sheâs living her life, you can try to pet her but sheâs shy with strangers⌠Imagine calling the police about a llama refusing to abide by basic road rules and being told haha thatâs our girl! Give her a pat for me! PampĂŠrigouste, you are very annoying and very loved.
I started following that road looking for her, occasionally calling her with my special I Come Bearing Muesli whistle (and it was a lie), and as soon as I got mobile reception I received a text from a neighbour telling me âTon affreuse est lĂ â (âyour horrible one is hereâ). I turned around to go pick her up, and discovered that he had locked her in the Horny Bull Pen, aka his most securised enclosure. When Pampe escapes to his farm just to be a pest she usually hangs out with his cows until I arrive and he doesnât mind, so it was a little joke, and it was so funny finding Pampe languishing in a high-security prison. She looked very put out and I told her she absolutely deserved her sentence. Then I opened the gate and I didnât even need my rope, she was happy to be pardoned and to see Pandolf, and followed us readily, on the road and then through the woods to my farm, it felt so companionable, the three of us walking home together.