Photos are deceiving. Here you see a young girl carefully giving medical care to her goat, who stands calmly with his collar latched around the fence...a model of caprine cooperation. Don't be fooled. What the photo fails to show is the frantic goat (here momentarily paralyzed by the camera flash) bucking up two legs at a time and thrashing an occasional foot through the chain links of the fence, or the mother who sprayed half her arm blue while attempting to apply antibiotic spritz to the festering wounds now neatly covered in baby socks. Missing is the hoof-shaped bruise on my arm (same color as the blukote spray!) from when we struggled to get him on the bench, as well as a spitty wad of what was originally a new roll of gauze, until the other goat sneaked up behind Emily and snatched it from the supply bucket - it took both of us to pry it from his throat after he started choking.
This weekend my daughters went on an overnight college visit, two days packed with information sessions, interviews and tours. When I picked them up, I looked eagerly at Emily, but she shook her head. I groaned.
"Are you sure? I thought the website said they allowed students to bring pets."
"Yeah, Mom," she answered, stowing her sleeping bag in the trunk. "I checked the handbook. Student pets are limited to small non-carnivorous fish. No goats."
Maybe if we dyed them orange and squished them into a fish tank...could we pass them off as oversize goldfish? Worth a try...
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