The Goats Knew

Olivia and Cooper

Olivia observed quietly from her perch, high up in a nearly leafless dogwood. The human she watched was obviously hurt. He was limping badly and fell on his face more than once while she regarded his progress through the forest. He was also talking, apparently to himself, as he stumbled along his path. She couldn't hear him clearly from this distance, but she didn't pick up on any words she recognized.

Crazy humans, she thought as he nearly walked straight into a tree. He shouted unintelligibly at the tree as he detoured around it. Olivia hadn't been there to see what had happened to the boy, but she had heard enough to know what it was he was running from. He shouldn't have been out in the woods at night. He really should have known better. Humans can be so blind to danger sometimes.

When the stumbling mad-man was out of sight (though she could still hear him fall to ground, shouting occasionally), She made her way carefully down from the tree. She paid close attention to the direction the boy had come from. She wasn't interested in meeting his adversary any time soon.

Fortunately for her, what she was looking for was not in the direction from which she'd heard all the commotion. Keeping watch with her keen sense of smell as well as with her ears and eyes, she headed in the direction of the sunrise. She was quite sure she knew where she had to go. Once she was close, she could smell her way.

As she came out from under a particularly dense nannyberry bush, she caught a familiar odor. The blood was invisible under the snow, but she could smell it as if it was freshly spilled. Along with the blood there was another smell. Also familiar, but more pungent, less metallic. It was the smell of humans. A mixture of sweat, feces, urine and chemicals that humans seemed to like. The smell was unique to each individual and she recognized this one.

It was that girl that came around sometimes. Olivia remembered how nice she was to her. She hunched down and inhaled the aroma. The smell brought back memories of sitting on the girl's lap. She used to rub Olivia behind the ears, just the way she liked it. She used to sneak treats to her too, when no one was looking. Yeah, she liked this one. Too bad she didn't know enough to stay away from here. Olivia already missed her, but today she had work to do.

The smell of the girl meant she was close. She needed to focus now. The smell she wanted was considerably less pleasant than the girl's, but she'd know it when she found it.

It didn't take long. Why are the nasty smells always the strongest? She thought as she homed in on a dense, acrid odor. She had found what she'd been looking for. A freshly dug hole. She could smell her human, Scott, here along with the nasty bit. This was definitely the right place.

Pausing to make sure she was still alone, she slunk down into the hole and started digging in the soft dirt. Soon she found it. Here the earth was discolored and from it emanated the rancid smell she'd been tracking. Something was buried here all right. She scrunched up her face, stuck her tongue out just a bit, and tasted the stained dirt. She immediately regretted it and spit over and over until there was just a ghost of its flavor left. Whatever was buried here had been removed recently. Now that she had the smell firmly in her sinuses, she could begin tracking the scent. She didn't know how, but she knew that whatever had been buried there was responsible for all the nonsense going on in her forest lately. If she was going to put things right, she'd have to find out where this treasure was moved to.

It wouldn't be easy now that everything was freezing and covered in snow, but she knew she was up to the challenge. She had to be. Who else was going to take care of this?