Billy Goat Danny

                                                                    "Billy Goat Danny"



                                                                                By



                                                                        Jerry Steele







"I'm still hungry Christine," said Billy Goat Danny, finishing off another clump of bright green grass.



"What else can I eat?" Billy Goat Danny asked his best barn yard friend.



The Guernsey cow just shook her head, and when she did, the shiny silver cowbell, that swung around her neck, went "Clang! Clang! Clang!".



"You're always hungry Billy," Christine the cow said. She looked up at the growing clumps of dishwater grey clouds. They were quickly crowding out the summer sun.



"Come on. Let's get back inside the barn before it rains."



"Ah, you're such a worry-wort," Billy Goat Danny said. "A little rain can't hurt you."



Then, Billy Goat Danny spotted something different, something new. It looked like a plain old brown box. Then, when a strong breeze caught it just right, something magical happened. Before his three-year-old eyes, the front cover turned over. The pages that followed went "flip-flap, flip-flap, flip-flap".



"Hey Christine, look what I found! It's a book with a bunch of words in it. I can't read, but I wonder how it tastes..."



Billy Goat Danny instantly began chomping away on the crunchy, soapy-white pages. Minutes later, the book, including its cover, was gone. Boy, that tasted good, he thought to himself.



Suddenly, the weather changed. The warm July air turned crispy cool. The strong wind caused the elm tree branches to bend and sway. Leaves fell, swirling to the ground. Every animal, from the squirrel to the rabbit, from the horse to the pig, ran for cover. All of a sudden, lightning flashed and thunder boomed across the land.



"Goodness gracious!" yelled Farmer John, leaping off his cherry-red tractor.



"Come on, all of you little critters, get in the barn!" he hollered, waving his arms, trying to them all inside.



"Come on, Billy Goat Danny," screamed Christine, over her shoulder. Four hens and six geese whizzed by her. "I mean it. That was thunder and lightning means..."



Then, with a mighty crash, Chrisinte saw a bolt of lightning strike Billy Goat Danny, knocking him to the ground. In an instant, Billy Goat Danny suddenly felt something like a warm, soft light burning deep inside of him. It made him feel good, and he wasn't afraid.



Farmer John picked up a dazed Billy Goat Danny, rushing him to the 100-year-old barn. He laid Billy Goat Danny down in a stall, covered in hay.



"You rest there now, Billy Goat Danny," said Farmer John. "I'll check in on you in the morning." After Farmer John left, all of the other animal gathered around Billy Goat Danny in a circle, confused.



"Billy, are you okay?" Christine said, standing over him, looking down.



"I'm okay," Billy said, struggling, and then standing up on four shaky legs, "but somehow, I feel different."



"Different how?" oinked Perry the Pig.



"Smarter, I think," said Billy, licking his lips. "Yes, smarter is the word."



"What do you know about words, Billy?" asked Red Rooster Robert, strutting by. "You're just a goat. Everyone knows that animals can't read."



"Well, now I think that I can, that's all," he said.



To that, a dozen chickens clucked, six horses whinnied, and three cows mooed.



"Okay Billy," Farmer Dog Freddie said, his bushy, walnut-brown tail wagging. "What does that feed bag say w-a-a-y up there, in the hayloft?" Everyone looked up at the dirt-brown bag, with fire engine red letters.



Billy Goat Danny took a long look. Then his eyes grew wide.



"Chicken feed. It says' chicken feed', and that is what you hens need to grow up healthy and strong."



"Wow," said Perry the Pig, amazed. "Billy not only knows what the bag says, but he knows what it means."



"Wow," Christine the Cow said.



"Amazing," barked Farm Dog Freddie.



"Ah, maybe Billy Goat Danny's just guessing," cackled Red Rooster Robert.



"There's only one of us in this barn who can solve this," Perry the Pig said, looking straight up.



"I thought you'd never ask," hooted Ollie the Barn Owl, perched on a beam, near the barn's ceiling.



"I've never heard of such a thing," the wise old owl said, leaping from one creaking beam to another, until he landed on the barn floor, with a "thumpity-thump-thump".



Ollie the Barn Owl waddled up to Billy Goat Danny, circling him twice. He looked Billy Goat Danny straight in the eye.



"So you can read words, can you?"



"Yes," said Billy Goat Danny, still feeling that warm glow deep inside, "for some reason, now I can."



"Okay, then let's give you a real test," Ollie the Barn Owl said. He hopped over, to the far corner of the barn, and picked up an old newspaper, near the hog's pen, with his beak. Ollie studied the page for a moment, then turning, dropped it down in front of Billy Goat Danny.



Billy Goat Danny's eyes narrowed, concentrating. He knew that this was a big moment. The barn grew quiet. The pigs quit oinking. The chickens quit clucking. Evern the sheep stood still.



"It says...'Record Corn Crop Expected This Year!'"



Billy Goat Danny rose up on his back legs, pawing the air with his front legs in excitment. Ollie the Barn Owl gasped. Up until now, he was the smartest animal on the farm.



All the animals cheered. Billy Goat Danny didn't have to tell them what that meant. They knew that now Farmer John would be able to plant more crops, and that there would be more food for everyone.



After that, until long into the night, Billy Goat Danny answered all of the animal's questions about words that they had heard, but didn't know what they meant.



The workhorses asked what a "saddle" was. The pigs asked what a "pigpen" was. The cows asked what "buttermilk" was.



"Come on, Billy Goat Danny," said Christine the Cow the next morning. "You need to go outside and show Farmer John what you can do."



They were just outside the barn when the wind picked up, and the morning sun suddenly disappeared.



"Get inside, Billy Goat Danny," warned Christine the Cow. "Let's get inside quick!"



As Billy Goat Danny turned one way, Christine the Cow went the other. When she did, she swung her giant cowbell around, crashing right into the side of Billy Goat Danny's head. He heard thunder, saw lightning, even stars.



"Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," said Christine the Cow, running in circles until he got up.



"It's okay Christine,"Billy Goat Danny said. "Come on, let's get out of the rain."



Once back inside the barn, Billy Goat Danny felt different again. Only this time, that soft, warm glow inside him was gone, never to return again.



Later, when the rain stopped and the sky cleared, Billy Goat Danny looked up at the farm's silver water tank, the one with the dark, black letters on it.



At that moment, standing by his side, Chrstine the Cow looked into Billy Goat Danny's eyes. Something told her that he could no longer read.



"That's okay," said Billy Goat Danny, bending down, munching on a fallen crimson-red apple, "it was fun while it lasted. And you're still my best friend."



"And you're still mine," Christine the Cow agreed.



And from that day on, with the first sight of lightning, and the first sound of thunder, Billy Goat Danny was always the first one in the barn.







                                                                  THE END