Lambert raced through the woods, his heart pounding. He had no idea the woods would be so scary. He leapt over a stream, heading toward a broken tree in his path. He made a run for it, leaping high in the air…only to land on top of it, half his body on one side, half on the other. He kicked and scrambled until he hauled himself off, then kept running, the lambs teasing echoing in his ears:
Lambert thinks that he can lick a dozen lambs alone.
But he can't!
He's no sheep; he's not one of us.
Yeah!
His heart pounded harder; with the tears blurring his vision, he ran and ran and ran, not caring what he saw. Suddenly, without warning, he tripped over a tree root. The action sent him rolling head over heels through the woods, bouncing off branches and flying over stumps.
He shut his eyes to stop the pain, the tears. He rolled and rolled and rolled, until suddenly—smack! He collided with an unknown object. Before he could blink, he found himself flat on his back, breathing hard. He squeezed his eyes shut as another tear trickled down his face. He jumped suddenly as something touched him; something heavy, yet…gentle at the same time. He slowly opened his eyes, finding himself staring up into the face of a large, grey creature.
The creature was grey all over, with a white hat on his head, a pink frilly circus collar around his neck. He stared at Lambert with concern, then twisted his trunk around the lion cub.
Lambert tentatively wrapped his paw around the creature's trunk, allowing himself to be pulled into a sitting position. When he sat up, he noticed tears collecting in the corner of the grey creature's eyes. Without thinking, he gently pawed the wrinkled skin, staring at the tears while the grey creature gently touched around his face, seeming to wipe his own tears away.
Lambert stared as the grey creature slowly took his trunk away, smiling gently. Feeling slightly intimidated, Lambert stood up, tucking his tail and paws underneath him. He began to bleat, only to have the bleat end up in a series of hiccups. He clamped a hand over his mouth, embarrassed, as the grey creature chuckled lightly. Lambert silently resented this. He watched the grey creature chuckle and then went to walk away, only to gasp in surprise when the grey creature sneezed, revealing two, huge, grey ears that were bigger than him.
Lambert fell over laughing, clamping a paw over his mouth immediately at the hurt look on the grey creature's face.
Dumbo sniffed back a tear, turning to walk away, only to find himself stopped. He slowly turned around, his eyes connecting with the lion cub's. The cub smiled warmly at him. Dumbo returned the smile. As the two stared at each other, they realized something: for once, they were not alone in the world.
