Stuck Like Glue: Take 4 (PLEASE CARL PLEASE)

I shake my head, clearing the mud from my thick mane. Scramble had found a great mud puddle, and we’d all been taking turns sharing it. Scramble was always finding the best ways to get dirty. As I shake out the rest of my body, I hear a jingle followed by a dull thump. 

Are you kidding me? I turn and see the small bell that was just tied to my tail, laying in the mud puddle. I was growing sick of this. Four days ago, a kind young girl had come to try to claim me. You see, us Teddy Cobs live semi-wild, and once a year swarms of humans come up the hillside to try to claim us. The claiming process looks simple at first: tie a bell into a Teddy’s mane, and if it was still there when we got rounded up to the winter barn, you had the opportunity to buy that Teddy. This was my first claiming year, and I was quickly learning that it wasn’t so simple. I quite liked this young girl who had taken a fancy to me; she was kind and gentle, and talked to me constantly. I wasn’t trying to get the bell off, in fact I desperately wanted it to stay in. I’d love to go live with the young girl, who told me her name was Sasha. However, the bell wasn’t having it. Every day, she came to see if it was still tied in my mane, and every day she had to re-tie it. And, every day, as soon as she left, it would fall out again. She was the only human who showed any real interest in me, and I was ready to live a simpler life than the one offered by these hills. Turning back to the present, I reached down and carefully pulled the bell and ribbon out of the mud, placing it by a large boulder, so I wouldn’t forget where it was. The sun had begun to set, and glinted off of the golden bell. I sighed, and laid down next to it. Tomorrow, I will see Sasha again. Maybe this time, the bell will stay. As I began to drift off to sleep, I wondered… If I held the bell in my mouth during the roundup, would that count as it being tied to me? I chuckle, and close my eyes, drifting off to a dreamless sleep.