The Goat
Mom rushed to my door, knocking quickly.
“Come in,” I said.
“Brannon, hurry, come here!” Then she scurried out of the doorway.
I figured Moses was doing something cute or Sam and Elizabeth were sleeping on top of each other. Usually when Mom rushes to the door and commands me to go look at something, it’s ‘cause she thinks something is cute or neat and wants me to check it out. So, I scampered out of my room and followed Mom into the kitchen where she was staring out the window. I stood beside her and tried to figure out what she was staring at.
“Do you see it?” she asked.
“Um, nope.”
“Look, over there in the neighbor’s yard. Is that a deer following that black dog?”
Well, that sounded weird. I wasn’t wearing my glasses and the glass was slightly condensed from the weather so seeing out was hard to do. I didn’t see much of anything and then Mom pointed in the direction of the unidentifiable animal. My neighbor’s place looks like a junkyard. The trees and foliage have swallowed their home and the space between the road and their house is literally littered with rusted vehicles. The animals were walking behind one of the cars so identifying them was difficult. After a little while, though, they came from behind one of the cars and sure enough, there was a huge black dog walking around in the neighbor’s junky yard and some kind of light brown animal trailing behind it. Certainly, it could have been a deer. Lots of them bounce around the area from time to time. What was funny was that this little deer, or whatever it was, was following this dog like it was its parent.
Eventually, as all stray animals do, the dog and the whatever it was came across the road into our yard. And, as always, Samuel was right there in the yard, transfixed on the sight of this humongous dog and deer-like thing.
“Well, that’s a goat!” Mom exclaimed.
A goat? Where the heck did that come from? And why was it hanging out with this vicious looking dog that could easily eat it for lunch?
Only in Alabama, I guess.
So, the dog walked up to Samuel and they were sizing each other up. This dog is like twice as big as Sammy and that worried me. The goat stood there, tensing up at the sight of Sam.
“Go get the camera,” Mom said.
I went into the living room to find where Mom had placed it when she said, “Oh, my God!”
Oh, no. I sped into the kitchen and asked Mom what happened.
“The goat just butted Sam!” She was half laughing as she said it so I wasn’t too worried that he was hurt. In fact, Sam ran to his doghouse after it happened. All the while, Elizabeth, the stray cat that came and never left, ran under Mom’s car for protection.
Unfortunately, the dog and the goat went after Sam. And poor Sam, he tried to walk away from these mean animals but they kept following him, trying to start trouble. Plus, the goat tried to butt Sam again.
Finally, Mom opened up the door and let Sam inside until the huge dog and the aggressive goat left our house.
I just don’t understand how our place is a magnet for all the vagrant animals out there. At the same time, it’s interesting, albeit potentially harmful to my pets. I mean, you never know what you’ll find. A dog one day, a cat the next. One day I’ll pull back the curtain to find a mountain lion pouncing on an unsuspecting elk.
It’s like Animal Planet up in my yard.