The Pony's Dry Sense of Humor Gets Hick's Goat: Part 2, The Humor

Yesterday, you were introduced to one of Hick's old goats, Nellie, and subjected to a partial tale of her sad demise. Today we will conclude this tale, revealing the reason why I had been thinking of it lately.

When we last convened, Hick had put Nellie's corpse on a funeral pyre over in the BARn field. He came back to the house. He merely stated that Nellie had died. Not unexpected. The Pony was sad, but he had no idea of the events of the evening.

It was getting towards bedtime on that Sunday night. The Pony and I were headed to school the next day. I think it was August, and I was starting meetings, and The Pony planned to sit in my classroom with his laptop and play games. School internet being faster than our home internet, you know

Monday morning, Hick was off to work at 6:00 a.m. The Pony and I left around 7:00. As we rounded the corner of the back porch on the way to the garage, The Pony stopped. He was looking into the front yard/field.

"Huh. Looks like Ann (our black german shepherd) is chewing on something."

"Oh. Well. You know how those dogs are..."

"It looks like a chunk of something black."

"Must have found something in the woods again..."

The horror of what it might be was sinking in. I hurried The Pony into the garage, figuring whatever Ann was munching would be gone by the time we returned home that afternoon. 

The Pony dashed off as soon as I parked T-Hoe in the garage. I thought he might be going to pet the dogs. Yet when I left through the people door, here came The Pony around the corner of the front porch. He was holding a SKULL at arm's length. A skull with horns.

"Nellie says 'Hello.'"

Which is just like something The Pony would say.

"Put that down!"

"I thought I saw something on the front porch, and this was it. I guess that's what Ann had in the yard this morning. I'm going to call Dad and tell him!"

"No you're not! He's on the way home. You can tell him when he gets here."

Anyhoo... The Pony revealed that yes, he'd heard the shots the night before, and figured out what was happening. He's not an idiot, you know, though we tried to shelter him. I suppose the rain off and on had messed with Nellie's funeral pyre, and that Ann had no trouble taking a souvenir off the burn pile that morning.

It's become one of The Pony's droll observations, when something is awkward, or does not go as planned: "Nellie says 'Hello.'"

Which is a text he sent me last week while on his route, along with a picture.

"Nellie Says Hello"

Yes. I know it's a sheep's stuffed head, and not a goat skull with horns. But it made me chuckle.