Gloucester and the Funny Goats
Gloucester is a diary goat that lives with his friends Harvard and Fitz, who are also dairy goats. They know they are the most beautiful and useful goats in the world. They play and run and look for the very best weeds to eat. And sometimes they laugh at the funny goats they live with.
A few days ago Mama Food let all the goats into the barn and fed them in the large stall. The alpacas and llamas ate their food out in the pasture so Gloucester knew that something was happening only to the goats. They stayed in the stall all day long. Shakespeare, the oldest goat was there. So was Bernadette, the only lady goat in the herd. All the goats were there. If Gloucester knew how to count, he would have known there were seven goats in the stall together.
The goats ate their food and chomped on some hay. They butted each other a few times but mostly they sat quietly and rested. It was a very boring day. Until later in the afternoon when some strange men came. They could hear the men's truck and they could hear that something strange was going on outside the stall. Gloucester could hear Mama Food talking to the strange men.
Then one of the men opened the stall door and came into the stall. He walked around and grabbed Parker, one of the curly goats. Parker wasn't really happy about being grabbed and complained to everyone about it. Then after a few minutes the man opened the stall door and brought in a strange goat. Gloucester and Fitz and Harvard were trying to figure out who this new goat was when he opened his mouth and complained some more. Oh! It was Parker after all, just Parker without any curls. That's why these other goats are so funny, thought Gloucester. You get used to them with curls and they go out the door and come back with no curls at all.
One by one the curly goats got pulled out of the stall and brought back with no curls at all. Gloucester and Fitz and Harvard laughed and laughed. Such funny goats. The curly goats didn't mind being laughed at though. They didn't like being grabbed and they thought being held down on the ground for a few minutes was embarrassing, but they were really happy about not being curly anymore. It only took a couple of minutes and then they were cooler without the curls. It was easier to run and play without the curls. They were happy to not have the curls anymore.
After all the curly goats were pulled out and came back not curly, both the men came into the stall. They walked around and grabbed Fitz. One at a time they looked at each of his feet and told him how great they looked. Then they grabbed Harvard and told him the same thing. Gloucester didn't really want to be grabbed but he was very proud that his feet looked great, too! He was glad that everyone knew dairy goats have such good feet.
A few minutes later the strange men loaded up their things and drove away. Then Mama Food came in and told all the goats they were wonderful. Of course, Gloucester knew he was wonderful but it was really nice to hear it from Mama Food. She opened the gate so all the goats could run outside into the pasture to play and eat and climb on the mountain.
Once they were out in the pasture, Gloucester and all the other goats sniffed each other to make sure they knew who was who. Sure enough Orion smelled just like Orion should even though he didn't have any curls left. And Shakespeare smelled just like Shakespeare should even though he looked like a skinny old goat now rather than a fluffy old goat. Once all the goats were finished making sure they knew each other again, they all trotted off up the pasture.