Demon vs Parasites

For better or for worse, goats' brains are limited in their capacity to hold more than a couple of thoughts at the same time. Each morning and throughout the day, Mother Superior holds in her walnut-sized brain two thoughts:

1) food, and

2) violence.

You might think that perhaps these ruminants may have encountered periods of starvation in their lives and, thus, established deep-seated psychological food aggression.

Perhaps. I don't know their history.

I posit, however, that for Mother Superior, aggression is simply who she is, especially if food is involved. But also at completely random points throughout the day. Let me explain:

On any given day, the entire herd and their canine protectors mill about the woods doing whatever they do; the goats eat the bark off the trees, the dogs eat the goat poop, everyone is happy. But then, with no warning at all, an unseen demonic spirit will overcome Mother Superior, and she will charge another of the beasts, while the evil residing deep within her belly belches out the most terrifying and deafening sounds.

At this time, I feel I should clarify she has never acted aggressively toward a human person. She has always held respect for the food-givers.

This morning when I was distributing rations, Mother Superior wasn't at the trough for the Breakfast Brawl. The normally aggressive ritual was uncharacteristically calm as Lupé, Jack, Jingle, and Belle eagerly eyed the feed bucket.

Something was definitely wrong.

I peered into the shed to find Mother Superior lying down, completely uninterested in participating in the cranial-knocking mayhem. Given her history, I checked her over and established that our fierce gladiator is sick with internal parasites.

Please be assured we are doing everything we can to bring her back to optimal health as is evidenced by the gross offense she has taken to being force-fed Yucky Medicine (this picture is her face when her tiny, two-thought brain must discard violence to make room for butt-hurt). Join us in vigil as we embalm our herd boss with nutritional supplementation and probiotics over the coming days.