The Missing Goat

I was a goat farmer and eight of my goats were missing. They had appeared in a city in southern Mexico so I went down there with a few of my friends and family to retrieve them.

We went through the slums of the city rounding them up until we had all but the last two goats. There was a chain link fence running along the western end of the slums; we were standing in the north corner at the end of the fence and we saw the last two goats, Rodrigo and Oye, in the other. But then soldiers equipped as if from the 1800s and wearing dark blue uniforms and fez hats burst out of nowhere and cornered us. We ran a block back into the city and spread out, agreeing to meet up the next day to find a solution.

I burrowed into some garbage and slept.

I have always believed that you can learn a lot about a civilization by watching it wake up. I sat for awhile in the trash the next morning and watched the townspeople begin their morning rituals. Squalid poverty and trust were the hallmarks of the town. Eventually a friend showed up eating a McDonald's hash brown. I wanted to eat too but going into a restaurant seemed risky.

We all ended up in big circular booth in a Denny's, but the only part of the Denny's was that booth, and it was in the north-west corner of the city again. We knew the soldiers would come back but we were too busy talking and planning. I don't fully remember who was there except for one friend I've been interacting with a lot in conscious life lately - I'll call her Penny - and a friend I haven't seen for many years named Jordan. I think Cody and Logan were there too, at least.

At some point there was a disagreement and one of the men at the table said the only way to settle it was by acting it out. I was wearing a cape and 3 scarves but no pants, I was recruited to play one of the characters in the skit and I had to remove the cape which was more awkward for other people than me. While we were acting things out (the leader of the group was wearing a top hat), the soldiers came back along with a judge.

I was told to prove that the goats were mine, or else we'd be executed for goat theft. I walked halfway down the chain link and called to Oye but he was scared of all the people and didn't come. We were forced to flee the soldiers again, scattering into the city. I went onto a roof and started a small fire. Penny showed up looking very cold. I gave her my blanket, and we slept in what felt like a ceremonially significant way: on our sides facing each other about a foot apart, with our feet pointed different directions.

Next morning, a few local children had found us. They started pelting us with veggies because we were goat thieves until we told them we were innocent and the goats had been scared. We had them spread the word throughout the town that we were innocent. Then I climbed down the other side of the fence (outside the city). The other goats joined me. I snuck along the outside, avoiding the guards, and reclaimed Rodrigo and Oye.

Eventually I found myself looking at a giant Risk board, where the male leader of the group (who was wearing the top hat) apparently needed to settle another dispute concerning the goats before we could all go home. This was to be a very high-stakes game. There were 5 continents on the board, each marked by a giant square with no countries within and brightly colored lines pointing to other continents. The biggest was in the center, it was just a big neon green square labeled NORTH AMERICA AND THE FOUR CORNERS.

There was some reluctance about playing, I felt that the game needed balancing before we could even talk about using it to settle our differences. Then I awoke.