While Erica Was Late

Two goats were sitting in a brewery waiting for their friend, Erica, who was late and who was also a squirrel. It was odd because Erica had even been the one to excitedly suggest that the three of them try to meet at this brewery, at this time, on this day. She had told the goats that she believed this brewery was illegally built right on top of her strategic reserve of acorns and mixed nuts. Though, she never provided the two goats with any information to back up this claim. 

While they waited, the two goats gossiped about Erica, as any friends tend to do when one of their friends is not around. But, neither of the goats had anything negative to say about Erica, other than that thing about her bad memory and how she tends to be pretty careless with her record-keeping. 

Erica was notorious for her unwillingness to keep accurate records of her days. In fact, Erica herself would tell you that her physical record-keeping left a lot to be desired but, she would quickly follow with the assertion that her memory is among the best in the animal kingdom. 

Goat Number 1 launched into an impromptu but surprisingly accurate impression of Erica,

“Why do elephants get all the credit for memory?” She would often lament, “They don’t even have to remember anything! Because they can see everything... Because they are so tall..."

Goat Number 2 laughed so hard at the impression that she nearly did a spit take with her Imperial Coffee Stout.

Goat Number 1 liked that he could make Goat Number 2 laugh. Goat Number 1 had met Goat Number 2 at a party and was struck with how effortlessly she was able to put others at ease and carry on conversations so that the party never felt stale or low energy. In fact, one of his favorite things was watching Goat Number 2 as she laughed because when she did she would always tilt her head to the left. It was a small thing, and Goat Number 1 knew that he could never really explain to any other living thing why simply leaning her head to the left when she laughed, in just this very particular way, made him so happy and giddy and feel warm inside. But he knew in his heart that it was something incredible. 

“Anyway, maybe we shouldn’t make fun of poor Erica when she’s not even here to defend herself,” The second goat said. “Even though, it is true.” She giggled, again. 

“That’s a fair point, even though we love Erica it feels a little bit mean.” 

Goat Number 2 liked this about Goat Number 1, he made her laugh but also, he was nice, and most importantly, he was hot. Boy was he hot. WooooW Weeee. Goat Number 2 could not get enough of just looking at this Grade-A hunk. And sometimes too, he could usually make her laugh. I mean, she thought he was just a stone-cold smoke show, a real fox of a goat. The first time she saw Goat Number 1 at the party she was worried that steam was coming out of her ears and that she may accidentally say out loud what she was thinking in her head which was, AWUUUUUGA! HUBBA-HUBBA! Goat Number 2 had always had a thing for someone who looked like an Adonis who could also make her laugh sometimes. That was a winning combination and as far as she was concerned all this chit chat was getting in the way of some good old fashioned… 

"That's a fair point," Said Goat Number 1, "What do you think of the brewery? Pretty nice place, right?"

Goat Number 2 wasn’t totally sure that Goat number 1 felt the same way as she did. 

"It's cool," Goat Number 2 said, "This beer is really freaking good and this space..."

As she continued, Goat Number 1 was hanging on to her every word. As a recovering sex and love addict, he was for the first time in a long time genuinely enjoying the company of another person without feeling the desire that had robbed him of so much of his life. He was initially embarrassed at the realization of his addiction and had therefore not disclosed his condition to any of his friends or acquaintances, 

“Anyway, so I like this neighborhood a lot, it’s really nice and this bar is great and, yeah I live just around the corner, it’s so close. You could come check it out if you wanted. Being walking distance to a bar that is so close is pretty good, it's so close...” As passion raged within Goat Number 2, she could feel herself saying the same thing over and over and over. 

The goats continued to chat as they waited for Erica, they finished their beers and Goat Number 1 even offered to buy their next round. 

Finally, Erica made it to the brewery. As her excuse, she said that she had forgotten about the time they had agreed upon and that she needed to start keeping better track of her appointments. 

The goats looked at each other knowingly and smiled. 

Erica saw the small exchange and smiled as well, you see Erica had indeed remembered the exact time the three had decided they were going to meet. She came late on purpose, and it seems, based on just that little smile, the reason she came late had been a success. She had a very good memory after all.