Merriton

Randy awoke to a chilly and empty bed. He reached over, thinking Sierra had rolled to the edge, but found nothing but a lump of cold covers. After wandering the empty house nearly naked, he returned to the room and threw on his clothes. That’s when he saw the light in the barn. “You trust your wife with that Chinaman?” Elvis’ critical voice rang through his head and for the first time, his trust faltered.

He could hear it the second he opened the front door. One of the goats was suffering. He ran to the barn, hot with guilt. How could he have ever not trusted Kevin and Sierra? Of course, the goats. What could possibly be wrong with the goats?

From the time he woke up to the point where he burst into the barn, his emotions had quickly rolled through confusion, curiosity, fear, jealousy, and guilt. He was emotionally spent before he even walked in the door. “Shut the door!” Kevin and Sierra yelled at him simultaneously. They were illuminated by one shop lamp bulb and hovering over Mary… at least Randy thought it was Mary the two kids were getting so big that he confused them.

“What’s going on?” Sierra looked at him crossly. “Mary’s birthing.” Randy was confused. How did Mary get pregnant again? He looked to Kevin for an answer, but Kevin was just as angry with him for not knowing. He finally had to ask, “Mary’s pregnant again?” Sierra’s eyes made a quick glance across the barn and then focused on the braying animal.

“I hate it when I have proof that you weren’t listening to me.”

The wind from outside blew in through the cracks of the barn and Randy shivered. Kevin noticed Sierra’s seething anger. “I’m freezing. I think I’m going to go in and put some more clothes on. Can I bring you something, Sierra.” She kept looking at Mary. “How about something warm, like tea or hot chocolate.” Kevin nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll be back.” His eyes shifted between Sierra and Randy and he eagerly left the barn.

Sierra focused on Mary, gently prodding her belly. Randy looked around, unwilling to stir Sierra’s rage, when he noticed them. Across the barn, there were two goats. Were those the kids? One was completely white. Randy didn’t remember a completely white goat. He looked over by Mary. The kids were separated from her, but near her in the pen. He walked over to the two additional goats. They were nervous because of the commotion Mary was causing.

He looked into the goat’s eyes and the goat looked back at him. “Help her,” the goats eyes seemed to say, but he didn’t know if it meant Mary or Sierra. The animal put its head on the pen and Randy reached over to pet it. The eyes… their strange eyes with the sideways pupils were looking straight into him. The goat seemed to enjoy the petting, but insisted, “Help her.”

“When the snow started to fly, they showed up in the corral.” Sierra had finally broken the silence. “Remember?” Randy scanned his brain. When did it start snowing? God, it had been snowing forever. No, wait, it started right about the time they brought Kevin back from San Francisco. “November?” Sierra breathed a sigh. “Yeah, November. Remember? I took them over to Elvis because I thought they must be his, but they weren’t tagged. Elvis said they weren’t his and that I could keep them.” Randy searched his brain for some memory… any memory of this conversation.

“So…” Mary started braying again and Sierra tended to her. Randy asked, “Should I go over and get Elvis?” Sierra shook her head, “So far it’s looking like a normal birth.” Randy shivered and realized that he had been in such a hurry to come out that he hadn’t put on socks. The melting snow on his shoes was seeping around his bare feet, making him even colder.