What Does the Goat Say?

Dusk was falling on the city of Baku. The heroine of our story was ambling down the street headed home after a satisfactory day of work. As she walked, our heroine replayed the events of the day and made plans for a quiet evening at home (which may have centered around cold pizza and pjs). She had made this walk hundreds of times in the past few years, so, while she was aware of her surroundings, she wasn't, shall we say, as alert as one might be strolling down the streets of . . . Bombay. She walked past the mechanic shops and the big butcher shop, crossed the street, and passed the back entrance to the little butcher shop. Home was in sight (and she had long since learned not to closely examine the goings-on in the back room of a butcher shop). Suddenly out of the thickening darkness directly behind her came a startling, completely unexpected, and rather alarming sound. Never (at least for as long as she could remember) had she heard such a sound at that time and at that point in her walk. To say that it put her on edge would be an understatement. To say that her heart nearly leapt out of her mouth would probably be a little nearer to the truth (though thankfully it did not actually do that). Our heroine was about to either confront the creepy guy who must be behind her or break into a run for home, when recognition of the sound and its source finally sank in. What was the sound? It was the long, low bleat of. . . (wait for it. . . are you worried yet?). .  . a goat! Yes, she had nearly been scared spitless by one of the poor, unfortunate, dis-spirited, and usually silent victims awaiting the coming of dawn (and the butcher) in the sheep van. 

Yes, the sheep van is a literal van, complete with bars over the window-holes, hay, and sheep or goats. Since the above picture was taken, the van has become decidedly more dusty and. . . sheepish. 

More than a little relieved that it was a bleating goat and not a bleating man, our heroine continued on her way and arrived safely at home without further incidents.

The End