WeGo to School

(Guest blog entry from Katherine, who is now a sophomore in high school and just got her driver's license. WeGo is our current bottle baby goat who, at the time of this event, was one week old. Katherine had brought her into the house because she was getting weaker and weaker and weaker by the minute, and needed to have subcutaneous fluids and milk from a syringe every two hours.  Since this is Katherine's gig--NOT MINE--she had to take the goat to school to manage the process.  Here's her day:)

Preface: with my previous bottle baby, I asked permission from nearly every staff member before bringing him to school. There was a long series of desperate emails sent to the head of school, dean of students, dean of student life, my advisor, and every one of my teachers. This time around, I just showed up with my goat, and nobody on staff seemed to notice. (Apparently, it’s normal for me to just show up with baby goats now). I later found out almost all of the admin building didn’t realize I had even brought a goat in the first day. This is the schedule of WeGo’s second day of school – her first day was only a half-day spent sleeping.

7:15: Time to go to school! I load the baby goat into her crate, with lots of towels and heating pads. Her crate goes in the passenger seat so I can keep an eye on her. For the entire half hour drive to school, WeGo screams and throws herself around her crate. Every few minutes, she aggressively licks the door to her crate and appears to calm down. It doesn’t last long, however, and she goes back to freaking out.

7:53: I make it to school a couple of minutes later than I would like, but luckily I have my free period first. This gives me time to gather my school bag, bag of baby supplies, bag of milk and any medicine I might need, and WeGo's crate. It takes about 10 minutes to hobble up the stairs from the bottom parking lot, where sophomores and juniors are supposed to park. All the while, WeGo is screaming and throwing her weight around the crate. She appears to have made a miraculous recovery in the past day.

8:00: I barely make it up to the Circle (where carpool is dropped off and picked up) when the head of school spots me toting my crate. She rushes me to the elevator, and brings me into a parents association meeting. WeGo is offended when I remove her from her crate, and stands looking zoned out and like a zombie in front of a crowd of adoring mothers. It takes me a few minutes to get out of there and sign in for my free – I get a special note from the head of school excusing my tardiness, although it doesn’t matter as much since it’s my free.

8:07: Since it’s my free, I take WeGo to the library, which is where I usually hang out and do homework. It’s quiet and warm, both of which are perfect for a baby goat; the majority of the other children are freshman, who don’t want to approach me to bother the goat. WeGo’s resumed sleeping, although a couple of my friends try to get her to play. It isn’t effective.

8:40: Spanish is after my free; technically, they share a block, but somebody decided 80 minutes of a language was too much (to which I wholeheartedly agree). Luckily, WeGo is still quiet, and keeps calm during the class. She seems slightly perkier – I gave her fluids during my free, and fought some milk into her. She finally seems to be catching on to the bottle, although it isn’t perfect yet. As crusty as her face is, everyone seems to find her cute. I try to fight them off, but they spend a solid amount of time petting her. I now know multiple words for goat in Spanish.

heating discs

9:20: Luckily, I have a break. I take this time to dump the goat on a couple of my friends, and hurry to the Student Lounge to warm her heating discs. I get a few looks when I put the discs into the microwave. By the time they finish heating up, I have to go find my friends. They’ve caught on, and practically hidden themselves with the goat. WeGo seems hungry, which is a good sign.

9:35: Time for AP Chemistry! A couple of my friends and I head over early so we can let the goat roam free. She hobbles around on a puppy pad for a while, trying to keep her balance, until she bumps into a wall. She proceeds to lick the wall for the next 15 minutes. The rest of the class filters in, including the teacher, and we marvel at WeGo's tenacity. Luckily, the AP Chem teacher likes baby animals, and lets WeGo wander for a little bit more before she needs to sleep again.

11:05: Exploratory, luckily, is Office Hours, or Study Hall, in my advisory. It’s directly below the Student Lounge, so I can heat up WeGo's milk and heating discs. My advisor walks by the goat multiple times, and it’s only when we’re almost halfway through the period that she walks over, and says, “Oh, that’s a goat.” She wasn’t around last time I brought a bottle baby to school, and although she seems excited about the presence of a baby goat, she seems perplexed as well. At least she accepts her, and I get some work done during the study hall period.

12:00: It’s finally lunch! I meet my friends outside the Student Lounge and wait for them to get their food. We sit up on the balcony for a while, until the freshman get irritating about the goat, and then we head down to the grass amphitheater. WeGo eats and wanders around on the grass a little bit, enjoying the sun. She attaches herself to my friend Hannah, and refuses to go to anyone else for the duration of lunch.

12:45: After lunch, I have both of my humanities classes (note: humanities at my school is a mix of English and History classes). "Voices" is first; it’s a new class, which is basically audio-journalism, also taught by a new teacher. She met WeGo yesterday, but today the baby goat is far more active, so we spend a good amount of time oohing and aahing over the goat before beginning class. Luckily, we’re in the middle of listening to a podcast, so I can relax a little bit. I run to heat up WeGo’s milk again, and feed her during class. She spills almost everywhere, but everyone finds it adorable. Once I put her in her crate, she begins to lick her crate. Everywhere.

2:05: My last class of the day is Humanities, which, of course, is in the classroom farthest from my previous class. By the time I get there, my arm is exhausted. At least we’re working on an essay, which means there won’t be a lecture. I put WeGo’s crate in the middle of the room and take the top off, leaving the door in place. The goat convinces herself she’s stuck, and spends an amusing amount of time staring through the little bars, trying to figure out how to get out. Eventually somebody takes pity on her and lets her roam free – which is a mistake, since the floor is covered in nice, soft, absorbent carpet. She immediately begins to pee – I barely have time to throw down a rag. I swear she gives me a spiteful look, but everyone seems to think it’s cute. When I put her back in her crate, she begins to chew on the door to her crate, making obnoxious licking noises the entire time.

3:30: I’ve spent the entire day actively avoiding conversing with humans other than my friends, since I made the mistake of talking when I brought Mark last year. They just trap you. To quote my friend, “I hate walking with Jane and the goat because everyone talks to her [WeGo] more than me.” Too true. So I practically sprint to my car, and start the drive home. WeGo has a new game, one I think she would call: ‘Lie On Your Side Looking Dead For Thirty Minutes’. She concludes the game by resuming her technique of frantically throwing herself against her crate.

4:00: Home.