It was a nice morning. We were waiting for the hay so we were all standing up by the fence behind the barn. I was trying to decide on a good title for my TED Talk for when I am asked to do a TED talk which it's just a matter of time before that happens. Probably the invitation already came and the farmer accidentally recycled it. Anyway I had three good choices so I was just deciding. "The Story of Me," "The Greatest Story Ever Told," or "I, Pebbles."
Then I saw the dog. I had never seen it before. What is that stupid dog doing I thought. It was over on the other side of the fence by the maple tree and it was digging. Everyone clumped a little closer together and watched it.
It was whining a lot and digging fast and pretty soon it had made a hole under the fence. Eo got a funny look and ran like the wind down into the lower pasture. I never saw Eo run so fast. What is that stupid dog doing I thought. I moved over behind Pinky because she was the biggest goat. I was standing with Pinky's daughters and we were all watching the dog.
The dog squirmed in under the fence and stood up and shook itself and there was just one single moment when everything stopped and time seemed to stand still and then all hell broke loose.
The barking started and the dog began chasing and everyone ran except Pinky and me and Pinky's daughters. The dog grabbed Betty and then Big Orange and then one of Poppy's daughters. But they all managed to squirm away. I could see blood running down the side of Betty's face and Big Orange went down hard on one knee but then she got up and ran away. Then the dog turned around and came at us. We were in the corner of the fence near the barn, Pinky's daughters Ginger and Champagne and I. And Pinky standing in front of us.
There was nowhere for us to go.
I don't remember everything that happened then. There was so much chaos and barking. The dog lunged at Pinky's head. The dog bit Pinky again and again and again and still she would not run. Dolly was on the other side of the fence barking frantically. And finally after it seemed like forever the farmer ran up screaming. Screaming and yelling and throwing rocks. The only word to describe the farmer was that the farmer was enraged. I have lived here my whole life since I was born and I have never seen the farmer so enraged. And when the dog heard the farmer yelling the dog left Pinky and lunged at Betty again and then lunged at Poppy and by this time the farmer was in the pasture and hit the dog with the first rock.
The dog turned and ran toward the farmer and the farmer hit it with the second rock and it thought better of what it was doing and it turned and ran and squirmed back under the fence. The farmer rushed everyone out the gate into the horse pasture, looking everyone over and seeing stripes of blood here and there but everyone was able to walk and run and it did not look like anything too serious.
"Ok," said the farmer and started the head count and only then did the farmer turn around and see us. The three of us, still in the corner behind Pinky. And Pinky, miraculously still standing.
"Oh Pinky." said the farmer. And the farmer gave a look I have not seen since Hannah Belle died and the farmer came over to us, all of a sudden just quiet as a church, quiet and slow.
"It's ok now, Pebbles," the farmer said to me, because I could not stop shaking. And the farmer gently so gently took Pinky's collar and we all walked out into the horse pasture together, very slowly and carefully, me and Ginger and Champagne following Pinky as she hobbled along one small step at a time, blood rushing down her neck and her belly and her legs and one ear hanging by a flap of skin.
And when we were out the farmer shut the gate behind us.
