... his or her own llama.
From this week's This Old Scout by Garrison Keillor. In his byline, he's writing about the Iowa State Fair. About all the booths: food, Marines, churches, animal auctions, etc. Toward the end of the byline, he writes of ending up at the llama auction and here's how he sums it up:
"And then I wound up at an open-air brick pavillion for the llama judging. Llamas are gentle, dignified, beasts, and here were four of them being shown by teenagers. The animals' military bearing, heads high, their stately gait, their dark soulful eyes --- they looked as if they'd walked straight out of "Dr. Doolittle," and it was sweet to see them being handled lovingly by teenagers. Pigs are something else --- you can see how a person might need to whack a pig. But nobody would ever whack a llama. According to a poster, they are raised for "fiber, showing, carting, guardians, and companionship." One girl stood by her llama and blew gently on its nose, and he looked lovingly into her eyes. A sort of conversation.
If every teenager had his or her own llama, this would be a very different country."
Don't we know it! This would be a PERFECT tale for a Prairie Home Companion broadcast.
Cher