I was struck yesterday with the thought that so much of the girls' personalities are shown in the way they walk as they come to the barn. Lucy (pardon me, The Lady Lucinda of Iron Oak) has a sedate stride that befits her status as queen, deposed though she be. Ruth has a purposeful, no-nonsense walk and shoulders her way past me to the stand. Esther strolls: "I'll get there when I get there," and then she noses around in her grain until she's good and ready to eat. (Maybe she's looking for the raisins.) Cindy comes down as she does everything, at full tilt, skidding as she rounds the corner, and virtually inhales her breakfast. Inga is my cautious, timid girl, and she is what my daddy would call a slue-foot...running at a slight angle instead of head-on. She stops at the doorway to inspect the room before entering, just to make sure. Sheila is my "Valley Girl," bouncing down the hill with little hops and twists. I can hear her saying, "Like, ya know...wow!" I only see Nineteen and Tessie from the backside as we leave the pen, as they get room service for breakfast. Goats have the most annoying habit...they insist on walking in front of me, which is fine, but then they stop right in the way, which drives me nuts. My path up from the barn, sweaty and laden with milk buckets, is a circuitous route around stalled goats.
I wish there were some way to elevate Sheila from her place as the omega of the herd. She tries so hard to make friends, but the others are still so mean to her and won't let her into the clique. I did take her out of the big room at night and put her in with Lucy, but that isn't a good combo, either. I even put her in with Poppy once, but it wasn't worth listening to Poppy's bellows of protest. There's more room in Ruth's stall, but I know what a bad attitude she has. Poor Sheila tells me every night in a piteous little voice that she needs her own room, and if I had one I'd give it to her. She has to go in with Lucy, whether either of them likes it or not.
As I watched Sheila come down to the barn, "Chantilly Lace" started playing in my head..."A wiggle in her walk, and a giggle in her talk...." (You'd have to be old enough to remember The Big Bopper.)
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I am INDEED old enough, because the minute I read the title, "a giggle in her talk," tripped right off my tongue, and "makes the world go 'round, 'round, 'round, 'round..."
Poor ol' Sheila - little hops and twists make her sound perky - and I LIKE perky...but then again, I'm not a goat, so who knows why she's Omega gal. Too bad you can't set up a scenario so that she can save the day like Lassie, and become a heroine to them all. Can't you just see them all crowding around her, congratulating her for rescuing Timmy from the well...and she's starry-eyed and proud and now one of the gang? OK, I think I just went "round the bend" on that one! The Goat Lady is gettin' to me :-)
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