The Goat Who Thought He Was a Dog, Version 1

Author's Note: During the last month, I have seen so many different kinds of animals around my house and in this area in general. Just ten minutes ago, coming back from lunch, I saw a groundhog. But the most exciting animal is one that lives right next door. It is a goat that my neighbors keep as a pet. "It's a goat that thinks he's a dog," my mother said. "That sounds like a children's book," I said. Here is the first draft of my attempt to write said children's book. I'm taking applications for illustrators.

The Goat Who Thought He Was a Dog, Version 1
Mabel and Johnny couldn’t quite remember when they got Marty as a pet, for they were slow children with poor retention skills. But ever since they could remember (it had to be at least a week, perhaps a month), they had enjoyed Marty’s company. He would come up and rub against their backs while they played boards games, hoping to be petted. He would jump around and run in circles and make the children laugh so hard they cried. He curled up in their laps and watched wrestling shows with them. Mabel would tie her dolls to his back and pretend that he was a horse, while Johnny would pretend that Marty was the finest hunting dog in the county while he shot at tin cans with his BB gun in the back yard.

In school, Mabel drew a picture of Marty when the class was asked to paint their best friends. “Oh my, no,” said the art teacher, who was well aware how far Mabel lagged behind the other children in her class. “I’m sorry, Mabel, but dogs don’t have horns.”

“Oh, I know,” said Mabel, right for once. “This is my pet, Marty the goat. He thinks he is a dog.”

Mabel and Johnny had three other dogs, Rowdy, Roddy, and Piper, and since the day that he had arrived, Marty had run around with the dogs like he was one of them. He wore a collar like them and he ate the same food as them. He chased cars, sticks, and balls.

Because Mabel and Johnny’s parents were, like their children, rather slow, they never had Rowdy, Roddy, or Piper vaccinated for rabies. One day, a rabid raccoon bit the dogs. And by dogs, I mean the real dogs, not the goat who thought he was a dog. He, luckily, was not bitten. However, once the dogs entered the second stage of rabies, otherwise known as the excitative stage, they mauled Marty the goat to death.

Mabel and Johnny cried and cried for their lost pets. Then, as children do, especially these children, they forgot all about them. To this day, no one knows where they are buried.