a goats life

some how they managed to push me up on to the top of the bus, looking around me, i am surrounded by bags of rice, large yellow water containers and a bamboo cage of chickens. the chickens are making a lot of noise, obviously discontent in the crammed space they have been shoved. i'm tied down snug so there is no room to escape as the bus starts to move. i look behind me, to the village that i'm leaving. the mud huts dot the horizon and hatched roofs appear as witches hats in the distance. it was tough being a goat in an african village. no respect from those human types. they threw sticks and stones when ever i tried to eat the green vegetation in their gardens and yelled and screamed when i got close to their water storage containers. i had a bunch of brothers and sisters but they were all sold off and i was the last to go. i have a pretty good idea of where i'm going, into someone's stew for dinner. it's really not a fair life, to be treated like crap and then end up butchered and sliced up in a stew. well, i will enjoy the ride, first time on one of these bus. the bus speeds down the road at neckbreaking speeds, swerving around potholes and motocycles. we slow down as another bus is creeping along ahead of use. i notice the inside is packed with sweaty bodies and on top there are bicycles, bags of ground millet, cages of chicken and oh yes, some goats...probably my cousins. i have to chuckle as i notice on of them has got his head stuck under a bar and bleating ever so loud, but to no avail. the humans could care less about our comfort, especially on our finally voyage. the scenery begins to changes from wide open, dry landscape to concrete house, shanty dwellings and people...lots of people. on motos, in buses, walking, yelling, shouting, standing on the side of the road. some hold up orage signs trying to selling phone cards, others are selling bananas...hmm a banana sounds good about now. i watch the endless comotion as the streets get more and more crowded with vehicles...buses, cars, motos, bicycles, taxis, more cars. exhaust is now chocking me and the haze makes it hard to see the horizon. horns are blarring and the suns continues to beat down on me. i try to move and get more comfortable, but the rope is too tight. the teeming streets of bamako, i had heard so much about the city. a city that is compared to an oversized village. a city full of people who get a long, something not too common on this continent. a city in a relativly stable country that continues to crawl forward in this millenium. a city filled with people who are proud of their history. a city that likes of eat goat...and a sudden tingle races through my spine. i know the end is near, but what can i do about it. i have no direct phone line to the president, i don't have any connections of which to have any strings pulled. my fate is sealed and soon i'll be digested in someone's stomach. but i look on the brigher side...i had a good life in the village, eating, crapping and making goat babies. what else could a goat wish for...my time has come and i will go without a struggle. the bus suddenly stops and the money collector crawls up onto the bus and unties me, lowering me down to my owner. as i'm placed on the ground i stretch and give out a blahh for good measure. i'm find except for the dang cramp in my back leg...3 hours on the bus was murder. there is a violent tug on my lease and i'm hauled along, down the dusty and garbage strewn street. people are everywhere, doing business, selling crap, walking, talking on cell phones, in large flowing rodes (i've heard them refered to as booboos). it's all too much for me, so much comotion, i miss the quite village life. as i'm kicked for the tenth time i start looking forward to the chopping block, to get me out of my misery. the smell of open sewers fill my notstrils and i hold back the urge to gag. i thought the village smelled bad, but this is horrible. me continue on and enter a narrow alleyway, with no people...but at the far end i see a herd of goats. they are tied up and don't look very happy. their eyes speak volumes as to what is about to happen.