To celebrate the birthday of Dr. Suess, I’d like to share a piece I wrote last April … I hope you enjoy it.
I sat there with Sally. We sat there indoors.
We’d done all our homework, completed our chores.
New rules kept us stuck here, inside all day long.
We were told to stay in that is where we belong.
With nothing to do we just
Sit
Stare
And
Think.
We stare out the window, not even a blink.
And then something happened. We heard a big thump.
We nearly fell over, the thump made us jump.
We looked and we saw him come in through the door.
The Goat in the Coat said, “I’m not here to bore.
I know you are stuck but there’s no need to mope.
There’s fun in your future, I bring you some hope.”
“I know lots of games that are fun,” said the Goat.
“I also have tricks up the sleeve of my coat.”
“Your Mom will be glad that I’ve come here to play.
I’ll share all my games. We’ll have fun here all day.”
We just looked at the Goat, we had nothing to say.
Our mom was not home, she was out for the day.
Our cat in the window did not like the Goat.
“Get rid of the Goat and his bright yellow coat.
“You must make him leave. You should push him right out.
If he doesn’t obey, then you might have to shout.”
“There’s no need to worry or shout,” said the Goat.
“My tricks are great fun that I keep in my coat.”
“A game we can play is great fun with a cat.
It’s a game that I call, ‘Stuff a cat in a hat.’”
“Get me out,” said the cat. “It’s a game that I hate.
“Get me out right this minute, and don’t make me wait.”
“Do not fear,” said the Goat. “I will keep you secure.
You’ll stay in the hat, not fall out, I am sure.
“As I stand on one foot, with the hat on my head,
Upside down you are safe, you have nothing to dread.”
The Goat found a ball and he stood on that too.
Then he balanced a broom, and a vase, and a shoe.
We watched as he spun, added objects galore,
He juggled and balanced then added some more.
“I can handle much more,” he then said with a gloat.
We watched him stack objects, “There’s more,” said the Goat.
Just as the Goat uttered, “Oh wait, there is more,”
That’s when the Goat tumbled and fell to the floor.
The things that he’d balanced, up there on the ball.
All scattered and tumbled, they had a great fall.
The cat sprang from the hat and he bounced off the wall.
“I don’t like the game. I don’t like it at all.”
“Now look at the mess that you made of this room.
This mess will take hours to clean with a broom.
“You’d better get out of here; never come back.
You’d better get going before I attack.”
“I like it right here and I don’t plan to leave.
I still have a trick or two tucked in my sleeve.”
Said the Goat in the Coat, “I’ll be back in a flash.”
Then left through the door. He ran out in a dash.
Then the Goat came back in with a red boat in tow.
“This is a great trick that I can’t wait to show.”
He stood on the deck in his bright yellow coat.
“I’ll show you the trick that I keep in this boat.”
“I will show you two fish that I store in this boat.
These fish are quite special. They don’t swim or float.”
“No need to worry cat, no need to pout.
They too will have fun when I let them both out.”
He open the hatch and they ran all around.
They fish were both silent, they made not a sound.
The Goat introduced us, they held out a fin.
We stuck out our hand and we shook with a grin.
They turned to the cat, but he hunched up his back,
“I told you to leave here, and never come back.”
“Do not fear,” said the Goat in the Coat to the cat.
“These fish will have fun, leave you out of the hat.”
“These fish can sprout wings. They can fly through the room
Upside down, fly in circles, do tricks as they zoom.
“No, not in the house, we can’t let them do that.
They’ll break even more,” said the cat by the hat.
They laughed at the cat as they took off in flight.
The fish sprouted wings, we exclaimed, “What a sight.”
As the cat had predicted, the fish left a mess.
How all this would end we could not even guess.
They flew through the house as they swirled, and they looped.
The cat didn’t like it, he said “We’ve been duped.”
The cat in the window then called out in fear,
“I spotted her car and your mom’s almost here.”
We picked up a net and we chased the two fish.
We chased and we swung ‘til they finally went swish.
We grabbed them and stuffed them both back through the hatch.
We slammed it shut quickly and then locked the latch.
The Goat in the Coat slowly pulled out the boat.
We saw his head droop. What a sad little goat.
“I’m glad he is gone,” said the cat from the sill.
“This mess is a mountain, it’s not just a hill.”
And then through the door burst the Goat in the Coat.
“Have no fear I am here with my magical boat.
“This one floats through the air and can fully restore
Anything that we broke, all this mess on the floor.”
We just stood there and watched as the Goat in the Coat.
Cleaned up all the mess in the house with his boat.
He then turned his boat ’round toward the door, and he flew.
Where he went, how he came, we neither one knew.
Our mom then returned, and she asked, “How’d you do?”
We looked at each other. What to say, not a clue?
Should we tell our mom that we talked to a goat?
What would you say if you’d been with Goat in the Coat?