Slowly I reach my hand out. She sniffs the air in front of it suspiciously.

“I won’t hurt you,” I say, reaching farther. “Do you want a pat?”

She shifts her weight from foot to foot and flicks her tail, still sniffing. Her eyes narrow, as if she was expecting some food in my hand. What would happen if I set her free? Where would she go?

“Do you want out of here?” I ask her.

She opens her mouth and shows me her sharp teeth. I imagine them clamping over my fingers, and I pull my hand away. She turns and trots back to her corner of the pen and circles around before settling herself down, just like George does.

“Well, suit yourself,” I tell her. I climb off the fence and find Ferdinand.

He seems extra-excited to see me and slurps up his formula, then head-butts my thigh to tell me he wants to play. I walk him around the yard to visit all the other animals. Ewe and Me run around their pen excitedly as if they want me to let him in to play.

Ferdinand pokes his nose through the fence, and the sheep both touch noses with him, then run away again. It makes me want to put them all in the pasture now, so they won’t be lonely, but I’d probably get in trouble. I certainly wouldn’t trust Lucy with them. I bet she’d try to body-slam them all into the fence. Unless I’m the only one she hates.

After we visit the horses, I put Ferdinand back in his pen. He looks so sad that I take him out and walk him around again. Just as I’m putting him back a second time, I hear a car door shut in the distance. I start to walk back up toward the house and find the Townsends in the driveway, their two little dogs yipping in circles.

“Hi, Rachel!” Mr. Townsend calls. When the dogs see me, they come running, barking like mad.

“Thought we’d come back early to see how your first week went. Looks like you took a tumble.”

I brush the dried-up dirt from my shorts while the dogs try to jump on me. “Lucy,” I say. “She likes to try to knock me off the fence when I feed her.”

Mrs. Townsend makes a face, but Mr. Townsend laughs and pats me on the back reassuringly. “That means she likes you,” he says. “She doesn’t even pay attention to me, the evil thing. Just like my sister-in-law.”

“Bev!” Mrs. Townsend says.

“You know it’s true.”

“How’s everyone else doing, Rachel?” Mrs. Townsend asks.

“Fine,” I say. “Ferdinand seems a little lonely, though.”

“Aww, poor little guy,” Mr. Townsend says. “We’ll go say hi to him. He loves the dogs.”

I find this hard to believe.

“Have you got any weekend plans?” he asks me.

“Not really.”