Bath Time

It was a warm Thursday afternoon in September, and Miss Mop was lying down in some shade in the Big Pen. One of her friends, Luna, sat nearby with her mum, Star, nibbling at a heap of grass. The other sows were scattered about the pen, some eating, some drinking, some just lying down like Miss Mop, and nobody felt much like doing anything.

Just as Miss Mop was beginning to fall asleep, the slave appeared in the shed doorway with 3 boxes. She picked up Miss Mop and Luna and put them in one of the boxes, then she got Orlando and Amicelli out of their cages and put them in the other two boxes. Miss Mop and Luna hid away under the hay in their box, wondering what was going on. The slave picked up the boxes and carried them into the house, stopping on the way to pick up a brush, comb, and pair of nail clippers. "What's going on?" Luna whispered to Miss Mop. "I'm not sure...." replied her friend. "But this has happened before, when we have to go to other places."

The two guinea pigs settled down, prepared for a long journey, but suddenly found that the boxes had been placed on the floor and they could hear a strange sound. "What's that?" asked Luna fearfully. "I'll see if I can find out!" said Miss Mop and she climbed up to peer over the edge of the open box.

The slave was sitting on the floor near them with Orlando in her lap and she had her hand on something that Orlando called a tap. The noise seemed to be coming from the large amount of water that was falling out of the tap! Miss Mop slid down the edge of the box to report back to Luna. "It's one of those tap things that Orlando talked about!" she said. "Remember? You know, the time she was telling us about Baths."

Luna thought for a moment, then replied. "Oh yes, I think I remember. Does that mean we have to have a bath?" She asked. "Maybe." said Miss Mop and they both climbed back up to watch what was going on outside the box.

The strange noise had stopped now and the slave was lifting Orlando into the big white tub that the water had been falling into. "I think that's a bath." said Luna.

The slave put Orlando into the tub and Miss Mop and Luna couldn't see what was going on. After a couple of minutes the slave poured some weird-smelling liquid into a cup and poured more water in on top and mixed it around. "That must be shampoo!" cried Miss Mop excitedly.

A short while later, the slave lifted Miss Mop and Luna out of the box and put them into the big white tub. The tub had some warm water in it, covering the bottom, but shallow enough so that they could both stand with their heads well above the water. Miss Mop ran about looking for a way out of the tub but every time she tried to climb up the edge she just slid back down! Then the slave put some of the shampoo in the cup again and filled it with water.

"Oh no!" wheeked Miss Mop. "Luna, we've got to get out!" "Don't worry." replied Luna calmly. Orlando said it's always over a lot quicker if you just shut up and keep still. The slave poured shampoo over both of them and rubbed it in before rinsing it all off. Miss Mop found herself enjoying it, though she tried not to!

After all the shampoo had been rinsed off, the slave lifted them out and wrapped them in a towel, and began gently rubbing them dry. Luna and Miss Mop both enjoyed this bit, and were sad when they were dry and the slave put them back in the box to take them home!

"That was actually quite nice!" Said Miss Mop when she and Luna were safely back in the Big Pen. "Yes" replied Luna. "I wonder when we've got to have another bath."