Moses makes friends with the goats of Apifera Farm. (Photo courtesy Katherine Dunn)
I was about to head out to the horse barn when I heard some of the old ladies gossiping.
“He sure is happy. Like every day happy – morning, noon and night. I’m exhausted,” said Else, one of the old goats.
“He’s worse than a kid goat,” said Clover, another retired matriarch.
Just then, a white, fluffy floofball about the size of a toaster came bounding out of nowhere and greeted everyone with a joyful “Good morning! What a great day!”
It was Moses, the Great Pyrenees puppy that had arrived a few weeks earlier.
“Come on, Moses, let’s go to the horse barn,” I said, and Moses ran to my side. He turned around and said to the goats, “Hey guys, wanna come out to the barn with us?”
Silence.
We got to the outer barn and were greeted by the blind pony, Marcel.
“Good morning, Marcel!” said Moses. “Isn’t it a great day?”
“Moses, can you let me have my breakfast before you start chattering away to me?” asked the old pony.
“Marcel, he just likes you,” I said.
“He seems to like everybody, and everything,” said Marcel, a bit grumpy.
I tossed some hay to the three very old and crippled sheep, and Moses helped by laying on the hay to make sure it would not float away. Prince, the elder leader of the old sheep, gave Moses a tap with his forehead, and said, “Now look little feller, I know you’re just happy to be here, but we’re old, and quite dignified, so run along now and leave us in peace.”
As Moses and I headed back to the goat barn, Earnest the pig joined us.
Moses, one of the newer additions to Apifera Farm. (Photo courtesy Katherine Dunn)
“I don’t think anyone likes me,” Moses said to Earnest.
“Nonsense, I like you. When you grow up a bit, they’ll respect you just as they respected White Dog, and Marcella, when they guarded the farm,” Earnest said.
“I know how to be happy, but I don’t think I know how to guard a farm,” said Moses.
“Guarding is in your bones and heart,” said the pig.
As we got to the goat barn, Moses stopped, pricked up his ears, and began barking. He watched the back woods intently, and finally his barking ceased.
“What did you hear, Moses?” asked Pickles the goat.
“I’m not sure,” said Moses.
“Well, in that part of The Wood there is a lot of energy. Many old soldiers were brought back to their nearby homesteads for burial after dying in the Civil War. They are known to roam here,” said the pig.
Hannah the little goat went screaming into the barn.
“I’m not afraid of no ghosts,” said Puddles.
Just then, Moses started barking at The Wood again.
Puddles screamed and ran to the barn.
Pickles leaned into Moses, and whispered to him, “Did you see a dead soldier?”
“I’ve never seen a dead soldier, so I’m not sure. But it had big wings,” said Moses.
Everyone huddled around Moses, and they walked back into their barn for bed.
(Katherine Dunn, of Apifera Farm in Bremen, is an artist and writer. Apifera, a nonprofit, takes in elderly and special-needs animals and shares them with elder people. Learn more at katherinedunn.us.)
