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You Don't See That Everyday

The drive from Alabama to Arkansas. It is a trip I have taken countless times. Every summer and a few other times throughout the year, my mother and aunt would load me, my brothers and cousins in the car for the six hour drive. Most years, the trip was uneventful. Just the same same sights along the same roads over the same amount of time. But, one summer, road construction forced us to take a detour. It was on this extended drive that I saw something that you truly do not see everyday.

Our drive from Alabama to Arkansas was spent mostly on the highways of northern Mississippi. It always ended with our crossing a two lane bridge over the Mississippi River, heading into eastern Arkansas, and my grandmother’s home. This particular year, though, as the bridge was being repaired, it was impassable. Thus, we were forced to take a detour through a few small Mississippi towns.

Shortly before we crossed the border into Arkansas, we stopped at Sonic, part of a chain of American drive-in-style fast food restaurants. While waiting on our order to arrive, my mother looked out the window of the car just as an older model minivan pulled into the space next to ours. Within a few seconds, she told everyone in my car to look at the minivan next to us. In the front seats of this van were two people who appeared to be around late middle age. The middle and rear seats appeared to have been removed. Still, I thought I noticed someone, or something, else in the van. I took a closer look and realized what I had seen. Oddly, the two people in the front seats seemed oblivious to it. How could this be, I wondered, when, walking around the back half of the older minivan . . . was a goat.
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