They call me pneumonia, but they don’t truly know what I am. Truly, I consider myself a killer. I come into a living being to utterly destroy them. I was on the prowl for a new victim when I stumbled upon a vulnerable being. It was a ewe that was having difficulty giving birth. It was winter, and so I knew I had a good chance at being able to enter and destroy her life. I entered after she was done birthing and was extremely weak. Her body could not resist. I was in. No one else even noticed, not even those around her. I now could begin my work. It was quite tough at first. After she recovered from her birthing she was able to fight me off quite a good deal. She was a little weakened but still acted fine. Nothing really seemed to be happening on the outside. It took me almost an entire year but after her birthing the next year I was able to do a bit more damage. However, the bulk of my success came when she gave birth her final time. She became weak and I was even able to infect one of her daughters, killing her off swiftly. I know found out my host’s name was Angel, and boy was she ready to be one when I was through with her. I made her so weak that she could barely walk or even breathe.

What we have once enjoyed we can never lose;

All that we love deeply,

becomes a part of us.

-Helen Keller


Her name was Angel. She was probably my first real best friend ever. She was the only one who ever truly got me, was always there for me, and would send me in the right direction if I was screwing up. But none of us knew that the pneumonia was out to get her. I remember when I first met her, I couldn’t believe I would get to keep her as my own and show her and even get to see her babies be born. She was quite the little lamb and as time went on our friendship grew stronger. We won a couple of trophies together at shows the year that she was a yearling ewe, even though she jumped and sent me flying in the ring. One second, I could see that she was not happy having to be in the ring for so long, and the next thing I know I was in the air. I hit the ground hard and laughed as I got up. We ended up winning showmanship. She then gave me my first lambs, my first real joys. Her first pregnancy resulted in two healthy twins, Bubbles and Blaze. Angel of course was an amazing mother and took good care of them. They became my everything. I spent quite a large amount of time playing with them and working with them so they could be just as good as their mother. Of course, I became extremely close to them. At one point my mom thought I had become close to Bubbles and Blaze than their mother. However, Angel and I’s relationship was different. We understood each other. We knew when one needed the other and when they just needed some space. There were some days we would just sit there together and others that we were on complete opposite sides of the pasture. The next year, she was pregnant again. According to the test, it was twins again. I was excited. I was ready for her to have more babies to have fun with and show. However, for some reason the babies came later than what they should have. They got much too big as we had her on more food than she needed at that point in her pregnancy. This created many complications as she was trying to birth. One baby was too big and was flipped backwards. It took a long time to get the babies out, even with the veterinarian's help. We were able to save the babies, but I almost lost her. She was never the same. She always seemed wrong. Later on I would realize she probably got a disease that night. It was a type of internal pneumonia that ate up her inner being. But she kept going. She gave me two more sets of twins. The first of the two she was able to handle, however it took a great deal out of her. They were two boys, King Arthur and Charger, and they sure took a great deal of milk. This was when we could first really notice that something was wrong with Angel. However, we figured we would send her out with the ram one more time and then retire her. She seemed weak during the entire pregnancy, but she was able to give birth to her final set of twins. This time it was two girls, Daisy and Emma. I was excited as they both looked quite similar to ones I had done well with before in the show ring. I didn’t realize the problems that were coming. On the way to see the babies again one day, we got a phone call. I was excited and wasn’t too worried about whatever it was Mom had gotten a all about this time. “What?” I turned to my mom who seemed distressed. I couldn’t figure out what was really going on. I knew something was wrong from the tone of my mothers voice, but I wasn’t too sure of what. “Are you sure?” Now I was really worried as this year I had already lost lambs and was afraid it may have happened again. My mother turned to me and said a few words that seemed to come out quickly but dragged on for me. “Daisy is dead.” I was in utter shock. How? I knew that Emma hadn’t been doing well at the start but we had helped her get better. But Daisy? She had always ran around happy and healthy, ever since the day she was born. I didn’t say a word until we arrived at the barn. I ran out and found Angel and Emma, but no Daisy. Angel came up to me, obviously just as shaken as I was. We both sat together for awhile, and for a bit I felt better. Emma survived, but her mother was not in the same shape. I watched her die a slow painful death for months. When she got home, she had aged what seemed like 15 years in only a month. She could barely walk and was so skinny that I could see nearly every bone in her body. At many points, I would have to pick her up to move her inside to stay out of the rain or to get food. One day, Mom came running in screaming that she was in bad shape. It was storming but I didn't care. As I ran out the door, i could see the storm clouds rolling in with lightning flashing streaks across the sky. The rain began pouring on my face and ran even through the booming thunder that shook the ground.

This came to a boiling point one day, and my work was complete. I reveled in her pain.

I came out to her lying on the floor flailing with her babies screaming for her. She was dying. And I had to watch. All I could do was cry and watch it happen, there's nothing that can be done now. I could see her convulse with every breath she took. She could barely breathe and I could hear her gasping for air with each passing moment. As I tried to calm her down, I could feel her muscles twitching as the death spread through her body. She calmed down a little with me there, but the pain was too much. I kept telling her it would be ok because that was all I could do. The ewe I had met so long ago and became friends with was dying. I wanted to stay till the end but I couldn't. We had state FFA convention.

I could feel my strength coursing through her body until her last breath. I was satisfied with my work. It’s time to move on to a new host.

As I pulled out in the school suburban, I saw my mom on the phone crying and I knew Angel was now really an angel.



Works Cited

Keller, Helen. "Pet Loss Quotes." Simolesympathy.com. N.p., 2008. Web. 8 Sept. 2014.