This is Larry the goat. He lived in captivity at a friendly Alabama zoo. But sometimes he got lonely and busted that joint. He wanted snuggles! And cuddles!

It was Larry’s personal mission to greet each and every one of the visitors to the zoo.

Larry the goat loved humans, until one day someone fed him a leaf.

He took a nibble, thinking it was some kind of wonderful goat-treat. He quickly discovered that he had been fooled, and immediately spit out the dried-up piece of vegetation. “You betrayed my trust!” Larry exclaimed, and realized he should stop being so gullible and simply bite the hand that feeds him. And that is why my sister no longer has a left hand.

Larry had many goat friends.

Paul, the floppy eared dog-goat:

And Myrtle, his snippy sister. She was always on her high horse, except in goat language they say “on her high human.”

And then there was Christa . . .

Christa had always hoped Larry would invite her out on one of his capers. She envisioned afternoons of frolicking down the pathways, sniffing each others hind ends and affectionately butting each other out of the way. She spent a lot of time with a quietly hopeful expression on her goaty face, standing around by the phone. Larry was never good at dialing a girl up since he never could figure out how to press those little buttons with his hooves.

Little did they know that many years into the future Larry would have the opportunity to gain opposable thumbs via some mean genetic engineering, enabling him to dial up all the girl goats on the phone. But that’s another story for another time.

As soon as someone sent up the alarm that Larry was out again, the other goats would all come for a look-see.

They gazed out wistfully, wondering what it would be like to roam free.

Sometimes the fence area got quite crowded with eager onlookers.

They all secretely feared the horned one (Paul the floppy eared dog-goat), who always tried to butt his way forward.

His horns were quite convenient though for some chin-scratching.

Larry loved this girl because she petted him with a stick.

“Hello, lady friend,” he bleated, moving in for a kiss.

The End.