**The Kangaroo Who Saved His Human**
Devon, 2020.
On an isolated farm nestled between oaks and rolling green hills, lived Tom Bennett, a 71-year-old retired farmer who preferred the company of animals to the bustle of cities. His wife had passed a decade earlier, and since then, his world had shrunk to his cottage, his garden, and an orphaned kangaroo hed rescued when it was barely the size of a milk bottle.
He named him Skip.
“Hes not a pet,” Tom would say. “Hes a mate for life.”
Skip grew fast. He bounded freely across the fields but always slept near the porch. When Tom listened to the radio, Skip sprawled beside him. When Tom dug the soil or mended the fence, the kangaroo shadowed him like a silent, lanky supervisor.
One morning, while working in the shed, Tom tripped over a loose plank. He fell hardtoo hard. The impact left him unable to move. His ancient Nokia sat uselessly in the house, and no one was due to visit for two days.
“Skip” he gritted out between clenched teeth. “Help me, lad.”
The kangaroo nudged close, sniffing his face. Tom grabbed his paw as best he could and pointed weakly toward the cottage.
“Go. Fetch help go.”
It seemed daft. How could a kangaroo possibly understand?
But Skip went. He bounded toward the house. Tom thought hed just bolted off.
Until, fifteen minutes later, he heard a familiar voice.
“Mr. Bennett! Are you all right?!”
It was Emily, the young vet who sometimes checked on the wildlife Tom cared for. Skip had raced to the lane where Emilys van was parked and started thumping the ground, making odd noises, darting back and forth until she followed him.
“Ive never seen him act like that,” she said later. “It was like he was shouting without words.”
Tom was rushed to hospital with three broken ribs and a hip injury. If Skip hadnt fetched help, he couldve lain there for over a dayalone, without water.
The story made the local papers. “The Hero Roo,” they called him. Skip even appeared on telly with a red bandana tied round his neck.
Tom recovered. But his outlook changed forever.
“I thought Id saved him,” he said, voice wobbling. “Turns out, he taught me that lovereal lovedoesnt need words. Just brave little hops.”
Now, at the entrance to his farm, theres a hand-painted sign that reads:
*”Here lives a man and the kangaroo who wouldnt let him die alone.”*
And if you pass by quietly at dusk, you might just spot Skip lounging on the porch, eyes half-closed, keeping watch over the old bloke who gave him a second chance and got one in return, without even knowing.
