Operation Free the Sheep: Part 2

Spoiler alert: If you haven't already read "Operation Free the Sheep: Part 1", you may want to. Because I'm about to tell you about the results of our mission.

Last night, circa 11:00pm, Dundee finally left to go to bed. His room is around the back of our house, so we knew as soon as he headed there we would be good to go. We sent Amare a text, telling him we were ready to free the sheep. A few minutes later, we headed out. We met Amare and Baaa-xter out front...not that Baaa-xter had much choice of where and when to meet us, since he was tied to a tree and all. Background info: Our guard that I told you about in the previous blog is a guy about our age, named Desta, who lives in an itty-bitty concrete "room" (it's about 3 feet by 5 feet...and I'm being generous) right next to our gate. He was still up, and was watching curiously (and laughing at us a lot) as we met Amare and put the plan into action. Amare informed him that we would be hiding Baaa-xter from Dundee, and Desta jumped right up to help.

Apparently moving a sheep is not an easy task. I have a feeling the poor little guy knew he was to be killed soon, and thought we were bringing him to his death. Kendra and I tried to encourage him, but we definitely needed Amare and Desta's muscles. After a bit or work, we got him across the little dirt path to Amare's yard. We re-tied him (even though I realllly just wanted to let him run away) and said goodnight.

This morning, we made sure to get up early enough to see Dundee's reaction. He came in for breakfast and we asked when he was taking poor Baaa-xter to be slaughtered. When he noticed his sheep was missing, he said, "Oh Desta probably took him to get food." After awhile, Desta got back, sheep-less. Dundee came inside right away and said, "What have you done with my sheep?" Of course, we played innocent. "Dundee, do you really think we can move a sheep? Where would we even put a sheep?" There was an interrogation that followed, in which Dundee tried to scare us into admitting the truth by promising us snakes in our beds and other terrifying things. We weren't frightened, and kept up the lie.

Unfortunately, it all unfolded when Dundee told us that he had evidence: He had seen the text we sent Amare. Apparently he got ahold of Amare's phone, and since we had texted him something along the lines of, "Are you still awake? Come over so we can steal Dundee's sheep!" he had a pretty good idea that we were guilty. Still, we kept insisting that we didn't move Dundee's sheep...which (Dundee, if you're reading this) we really didn't! We weren't strong enough :) Anyways, long story short, Dundee discovered us.

He claims to have a brilliant plan of retaliation, and tells us that we should be ready. Dundee, we're not afraid. And you know what? We might just have some more tricks up our sleeves, too! This isn't over.

What is over, I sadly presume, is Baaa-xter's life. He was taken away via van early this afternoon. Our furry little friend who we came to love ever so quickly was tied up laying underneath the back seat. We said our goodbyes. There was nothing more we could do.

I suppose it's kind of a bittersweet story. Bitter due to the fact that Baaa-xter had to lose his life, but sweet because of the adventure he gave us. Last night was quite possibly one of the most hilarious nights in Addis thus far. I have a new respect for our guard, Desta. He's now awesome in my book, for helping us steal a sheep. No longer is he just the guy that opens the gate for us. Also for Amare, for being our fantastic partner-in-crime. We had lots and lots of laughs, and got some pretty funny pictures that I'll hopefully be putting up soon. All in all, a good time. Still, we must never forget dear little Baaa-xter...