Why Can’t We Be Friends?

Her eyes began to fill with tears. Sally hung her head and turned. Again, she found herself walking away from all the other animals, alone. Laughter, quietly at first crept across the dry land, up into Sally’s ear. It was then, Billy the ‘bully’ goat shouted, “Why don’t you just go and never come back, Sally! No one here even likes you! How could we? Not even your own family wants you.” Now, the laughter grew to a deafening volume. Nasty comments soon followed. “Yeah Sally, get out of here you’re not like the rest of us.” exclaimed Henry, the horse.

Sally’s somber stroll swiftly shifted to a sprint. She could taste the salty tears roll down her face. She could not run to her secret place fast enough. It was there she felt safe. Hidden away from the others. Out of sight, she left the cruel world behind. Seeking refuge from every hurtful comment. All of the horrible tricks she fell victim to regularly.

Still, even in the place she felt most comfortable, safe from the other’s. There was always one thing she could never escape. The thick, heavy, loneliness that filled the air and blanketed her like a dark shroud. “Will I ever be loved and excepted like everybody else?” Sally asked looking towards the sky as she drifted off to sleep. There in her dreams she was free. Free to be herself in a world where everyone was accepted, loved even. “Maybe one day it’ll come true.” Her eyelids grew heavy and she soon slept.

Each day she awoke, a sense of hopefulness gave her the strength to face the day and all the other’s. Hoping one day, one day things would be as she had always dreamed.

As the days turned to weeks, and the colors of the Seasons cycled through once more. Sally slowly began to lose hope. Eroding beneath her hooves, the only thing keeping her afloat, now could barely support her weight. Crumbling with each and every hurtful nickname. With every scraped elbow as she fell from being tripped. With every tease a little more disappeared. Till one day, Sally had made up her mind. She would make all the other’s wish come true. She would leave and never look back.

Sally didn’t sleep that night. Thoughts of all the terrible things the other animals said and did to her. The names she’d been called. All the ridicule and hurtful things thrown her way. Her sadness morphing into hate, her heart grew callous. Hatred for those who hurt her, those who wouldn’t accept her. “Has my heart grown cold?” Sally sat wondering.

The light of dawn pierced the sky. Birds began to sing their morning melodies. The world began to wake. It was oddly clear and calm for the time of year she thought. Much like the calm before a storm. Her stomach churned in anticipation. “Just go Sally, you’re never gonna find friends anyway.” she said to herself as she grew the courage to venture into the unknown. In search of those who would love and accept her for who she was. Alas, her journey would begin.

A new and independent Sally she would find, far away from the evil farm she had once called home. Although, it never felt like a home to her. Heading West, sun to her back. “Goodbye and good riddance, I’m never coming back!” Her trepidation quelled with each step. The noises of the farm became faint whispers in the wind. A smile slowly shown on Sally’s face. The first one in a very long while. But it wouldn’t last long.

Sitting atop the highest hill, there Sally sat. Overlooking the valleys and rolling hills. In the distance sat the old farm. Suddenly, an ear piercing shriek cut the air like a blade. The commotion soon followed. Sally’s eyes and ears strained as she tried to make sense of it all.

“Help!! Someone help! It’s Billy!” Charley the Chicken, exclaimed. “Oh no! He’s fallen down the hole” which the farmer had dug the week before. “Help me, someone help me!” Billy shouted in agony. “My leg is broken!”

“It’s too deep! I can’t reach him!” said one of the cows. The farmer had left for Thanksgiving, off to see his son for a week or two. Billy’s life was in danger!

“If we don’t get Billy out of there, he won’t make it guys! We gotta think of a way!” Henry the horse had always known what to do before. But fear and uncertainty engulfed his every word.

Exhaustedly, all the animals tried their best and thought up their best thoughts. But not one individual could overcome the challenge of getting Billy free. Some of the animals even got hurt trying to free him. Slowly, one by one, they began to give up. Not wanting to risk their own life by falling, in too, with Billy.

Sally, all the while watched. “Good, he gets what he deserves!” she said under her breath. Billy had hurt her more than all the other’s. Her conscience had a choice to make. Let Billy meet his fate in that deep, dark hole. A place she once thought suited him. Or help the person who tormented and humiliated her as long as she could remember.

Then it hit her. This was Sally’s one chance to show them all a world she’d only seen in her dreams. One of peace, and forgiveness. One of hope.

Sally had always been the smartest on the farm. All the animals knew it. Maybe they were jealous of her quick witt and problem solving skills, but it all too many times was the punchline to cruel jokes. It’s never easy being the nerd of the bunch. But she knew, in that moment, she could show them just what she was made of. She knew exactly how to free Billy. She was determined to do so. Sally suddenly sprang into action. Racing towards Billy and the gang. “Everyone! Hey! I know what to do, follow me!” She screamed with all her might.

“Cindy, and Henry, run to the stable and get the lasso!” “Randy! Hurry, get every cow and horse you can round up!” Randy the Racoon saluted Sally and pridefully sprang into action. She looked frantically around for one more thing. Glancing towards the old farmhouse, drying on the clothesline, was a large sheet. Wind, tickled the sheet to life, sunlight pushing through its fibers it gently waved. As if the wind, so too shared her dream, played its role perfectly. It was just enough to catch her attention. “Bingo!” She whispered to herself. It was just what she’d need to wrap up her plan and free Billy.

“Charley, see that white sheet!?” He spotted it right away. “I see it, I see it!” Charley clucked. “Run and grab the sheet and get everyone you see to follow me to the hole!” Sally’s orders flew out like a drill sergeant, snapping everyone in earshot into action.

As everyone gathered around to see the commotion and see what Sally could do, an anticipation grew that the farm had not yet felt before. A crowd began to gather around the hole, looking down at Billy, alone in the darkness. Anxiously he waited.

“Okay guys, here’s what we have to do!” Sally’s voice never sounded so confident. “Henry, toss down the lasso and have Billy wrap it around himself and hold on tight!” Now everyone gather around. “Charley get the sheet!” Nerves began to rattle. “Everyone grab ahold of the ends with your teeth. Stretch it tightly over the hole.” In this moment, all judgements and jokes vanished. Everyone’s differences and quarks forgotten. A bond was beginning to grow.

Now, for the first time, the farm animals could see that when everyone looks past the faults and defects of their peers, that in fact, working as a team was and always will be, the only solution. It will always be stronger than any one individual.

A team, working with precision assembled. Resembling the gears and inter working pieces that move the hands of a clock. Finally, everyone together became a well oiled machine that would save the day.

Sally acting as General, oversaw every subtle movement. “Now guys, listen carefully!” There was no room for error now. “Okay guys, slowly walk in unison back towards the hole.” Tension building with every step. “Billy, can you hear me?” Sally screamed out.

“When the sheet gets lowered down to you, let it sink to the ground and lay down in the center!” Confused, but willing to give it a try, Billy did as he was told.

As Billy let out a sigh, he slowly sank onto the sheet and waited nervously. “Alright everyone, great work!” Every animal now boasting a new found confidence and trust, glanced about, nodding to those around as if to silently say, “We can do this!” The moment of truth had arrived.

“Listen carefully! On the count of three, everyone moving together, back up slowly.” With Henry handling the lasso tightly around Billy’s waist and every other farm animal around, they began to move as one. Sally drew in a deep breath, and watched.

To everyone’s bewilderment, it had begun to work. Just as Sally knew it would all along. They heaved and pulled with all their might. Each step they took, Billy, so too, rose higher and higher. His head now crested the hole.

“Almost there!” Sally could hardly contain the excitement in her voice. And with one final pull, one last step, the sheet drew tight. Stretched out over the hole, Billy slowly slid to safety as Henry showed off his strength, the lasso grew taught.

Finally, on solid ground, high above the dark hole. Billy looked down, and sobbed. He knew that if it hadn’t been for Sally, the one he’d picked on and overlooked all these years, he would not have made it out alive. She very easily could have kept walking, never giving the farm a parting glance. But she didn’t.

It suddenly became clear who the real hero was. The silence almost deafening, without warning exploded with cheers and words of encouragement. One by one, all of the animals who once made fun of Sally, came to her. All the while their heads hung low as salty tears ran down their cheeks. Each animal apologized to Sally, and asked for her forgiveness. Sally, beaming in the sunlight, was more than happy to oblige.

For it was then, that everyone could see when it comes down to it, we are all equal. We all have a part. Most importantly, sometimes the ones who appear the meekest, are in fact, the strongest of all.

Sally’s dream had finally cone to fruition. From that day forth, forever more, she’d be remembered for her courage, her forgiveness, furthermore her fortitude and determination to break the cycle. The days of judgement would be, no more. Happily, evermore, they remained a team.

So children, you see. Life can be hard. Other’s will always be mean or jealous of another. And at times, even rude for no reason at all. But the secret to overcoming the cruel world we are engulfed, is actually rather simple after all.”

“As our ancestors have passed down this knowledge of peace and understanding. So to, I pass it unto you: Be true to yourself. Let the character of your heart guide your feet. Even the darkest of nights kneels to dawn’s light, first break. Be the light in a dark world. Love will find the way.”

Yes, there high up in the treetop. A wise owl, the watchman of the farm, told the story of how Silly Sally saved the day.

The owlets, beginning to close their little eyes, smiled up at grandpa owl before sleep took hold of them all. They always did cherish the stories of the wise old owl, Owen.