2014/2015
Vol. 10

A Bad Day for More Than the Goat

1940s; Kinston, North Carolina, USA

This humorous story takes place in the 1940s, during World War II. The location is a small house in Kinston, North Carolina. This remote house has no electricity, and its only source of water is a single well in its backyard. This well shares the grounds with roaming goats.

On a day seeming like any other day, a wondrous goat becomes curious about what is behind the pile of bricks that the well consists of. Without a care in the world, the goat props her front legs onto the bricks to peer over, but to no avail. From this vantage point, the goat is unable to see past the well’s wall of wonder. With this, she promptly decides to move her back legs to where her front legs are, and then jump her front legs forward to the other side of the well. At first this works, but then the goat begins to lose her balance. Shakily she tries to recover it, but is unable to. In a flight of plight, the goat lets out an ear-piercing bleat!

With the grace of an exasperated bull, she rapidly descends to the depths of the well. Much to everyone’s surprise, the goat lands without any injuries. From the small abode’s kitchen window, my great-grandfather sees this comical atrocity take place. To hide the look of disbelief, he buries his face in his hands.

My great-grandfather then proceeds to rise out of his chair, releasing a sigh that must have been screaming, “Why did this have to happen!” He steps out of the back door, walks over to the well, and peers down to confirm what just happened. Sadly, he was correct. Now he trudges down to the nearest neighbor’s house. He explains to them the predicament he is in and asks for their help in reversing the situation. The father and his son agree.

My great-grandfather and his neighbors gather two pieces of rope. They lower them into the well, sliding them both under the goat’s stomach. They begin raising the goat out of the well. The goat is now near the top, so my great-grandfather leans in to pull her the remaining inches over the brick wall. The neighbors then advance to assist in bringing the goat to the ground. In the process, to everyone’s amazement, my great-grandfather falls in. Luckily he does a flip and lands more or less on his feet. The situation was indeed reversed, just not as expected.

The neighbors now lower another rope to help my great-grandfather to climb up. At first he struggles, but his motivation wins. Finally both the goat and my great-grandfather are out of the well.

This hectic, almost unbelievable, day has created no real impact on anyone’s life, seeing as nothing was gained and no one was hurt. Almost more importantly, it has brought a hilarious story to the table — a story that can be used to ignite family gatherings with flames of happiness.

David Fields; North Carolina, USA

Illustrator: Lily J. Bredemeier; Colorado, USA

This copyrighted story and illustration may be copied for limited classroom use or reprinted in an article about The Grannie Annie.

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