“You look lonely” said the voice. I didn’t know who said it but they were right. I did feel lonely. After all there was just me, JustBert.

“Would you like to be my friend?” asked the voice.

I hopped and turned around to see a big white fluffy thing.

“I’m Barbara” the fluffy thing spoke. “I’m Barbara the sheep. Would you like to be my friend?” she asked again.

“But why do you want to be my friend? I am not a sheep. I am a Bert, JustBert” I replied.

“You look like a nice sort of Bert and we really do not need to be the same to be friends.”

Barbara waited for my reply. I smiled at her but I really wasn’t sure.

“Come with me and meet everyone in the garden. We are all friends here and you will see we are all different.”

I hopped on to Barbara’s back and sank down into her warm woolly coat.

We hadn’t gone far when Barbara said, “This is Gordon”

I looked down and saw a rusty old metal ram. The metal on his back was twisted into curls and he had two rusty red horns.

“Good morning Gordon, I’m JustBert, nice to meet you.” I said in my most friendly voice.

“Very nice to meet you JustBert” Gordon replied stamping his feet as if he were doing a little hello dance.

Barbara nodded her head, turned around and walked across the garden to the pond. It was a bit wobbly on her back so I had to hold on tightly to her wool. When she stopped again I looked up and up and there in front of us was a huge purple reindeer. A deep rumbling voice like thunder said, “Now Barbara who do we have here?”

“This” said Barbara, “Is JustBert, he has no friends so I am bringing him along to meet everyone.”

The belly of the purple reindeer shook as he laughed and said “ Hello Justbert I am Prince the purple reindeer, but you can call me just Prince. I mean Prince not Just prince” he laughed again.

“Th th thank you” my voice sounded so small next to his.

With that Barbara did a sort of backward shuffle then walked forward taking us past the greenhouse and the raised bed where Lotty and the maker grow potatoes and tomatoes and chillis.

We peeped through the fence and six pairs of eyes peeped back at us. Twelve small fluffy feet walked towards us. Four fluffy balls of white feathers, one fluffy ball of black feathers and one sleek long necked white feathery hen clucked their way to the fence.

“These” said Barbara “are the ladies. You must always say good morning to the ladies. Glorious, Carpet, Heyhey, Pompom, Peggy and last but not least Lyla the duck. (Yes she is a hen but her name is Lyla the duck!!)

“Good morning ladies. I would like to introduce you to Justbert.” Barbara looked at each of them as she spoke so no one would feel left out.

“Good morning Justbert. They all clucked. “Now come along ladies we have work to do” announced Peggy. In turn they followed her to the other side of the chicken run and scratched at the ground while looking closely to see what they could find.

“You’ll get used to Peggy” Barbara said. “she can be a bit bossy but she means well”

“Just one more new friend to meet.” Barbara swayed from side to side as we trotted towards a patch of heather. “I warn you he doesn’t speak much but he is very wise”

Just before I could start to feel sick Barbara stopped, “Hello Noddy. This is Justbert.”

Noddy nodded

“Hello Noddy nice to meet you” I said

Noddy nodded

“Would you like to be my friend?” I asked feeling quite brave now.

Noddy nodded

I smiled back at him because what else can you do when someone is nodding.

Barbara rocked her way back to where we had started. I was feeling quite tired now. I snuggled down in Barbara’s woolly coat and thought about all my new friends, Barbara the woolly white sheep, Gordon the rusty ram, Prince the purple reindeer, Peggy the sleek white hen, Carpet the black fluffy hen, Pompom, Heyhey, Glorious and Lyla the duck the white balls of feathery fluffiness and Noddy the nodding dog…….. and I didn’t feel lonely any more.

© We Are Bert Ltd