The Goat Who Ate Homework

Lucy Martinez loved third grade. She loved reading about dinosaurs, painting pictures of rainbows, and especially the gold star stickers Mrs. Chen gave out for completed homework. Lucy had seventeen gold stars on her chart, which was more than anyone else in the whole class.

One Tuesday afternoon, Lucy skipped home with her backpack bouncing against her shoulders. Inside was her very best work yet—a three-page story about a princess who rode a skateboard and saved her kingdom from boring vegetables. She’d drawn pictures on every page and used her fanciest cursive writing.

“I’m definitely getting a gold star tomorrow!” Lucy announced to her mom, who was in the garden pulling weeds.

“That’s wonderful, sweetie,” her mom said. “Just remember to keep your backpack inside tonight.”

But Lucy was already running toward the oak tree in the backyard, where her rope swing hung. She dropped her backpack on the grass and swung so high she could almost touch the clouds.

What Lucy didn’t know was that her neighbor, Mr. Pickering, had just gotten a new pet.

His name was Winston, and Winston was a goat.

Not just any goat—Winston was a champion escape artist goat with a magnificent beard, curious amber eyes, and an absolutely enormous appetite for things he absolutely should not eat.

While Lucy swung higher and higher, Winston was squeezing through a gap in the fence that separated the two yards. His nose twitched. His beard waggled. He could smell something interesting and papery and delicious.

Lucy’s backpack.

Winston trotted over on his neat little hooves, gave the backpack a sniff, and—CHOMP!—took a big bite right through the zipper.

“Mmmmm,” thought Winston, chewing thoughtfully. The zipper was crunchy, but the folder inside was even better—smooth and papery with a hint of strawberry eraser.

He pulled out Lucy’s homework with his teeth.

The skateboarding princess stared up at him from the page. Winston stared back. Then he ate her head.

MUNCH! CRUNCH! GULP!

The princess’s skateboard went next, followed by the boring vegetables, the castle, and all three pages of Lucy’s fanciest cursive writing.

Winston burped. It was a small, polite burp, but it smelled like strawberry erasers and regret.

Just then, Lucy jumped off the swing and turned around.

Her backpack was open. Papers were scattered everywhere. And standing in the middle of the mess was a goat she’d never seen before, with her pencil case dangling from his mouth.

“AHHHHHHH!” screamed Lucy.

“BAHHHHHHH!” replied Winston, dropping the pencil case.

“MOM! THERE’S A GOAT EATING MY HOMEWORK!”

Lucy’s mom came running from the garden, still holding a trowel. When she saw Winston, she started to laugh. “Oh my! That must be Mr. Pickering’s new goat!”

“He ate my story! My princess story! My GOLD STAR story!” Lucy wailed, picking up a piece of paper that now had hoof prints and teeth marks all over it.

Winston looked at Lucy with his big amber eyes. He didn’t understand why she was upset. The homework had been delicious.

Mr. Pickering came huffing through the gap in the fence, his glasses bouncing on his nose. “Winston! There you are, you rascal! I’m so sorry—he’s an escape artist. Did he cause any trouble?”

“HE ATE MY HOMEWORK!” Lucy shouted, holding up the chewed remains of her princess story.

Mr. Pickering’s face went pale. “Oh dear. Oh my. Oh no.” He looked at Winston sternly. “Winston, that was very naughty!”

Winston burped again.

Lucy felt hot tears prickling in her eyes. “Mrs. Chen is never going to believe me. Nobody ever believes the excuse ‘a goat ate my homework.’ She’s going to think I’m making it up!”

That’s when Lucy’s mom had an idea. “What if Winston came to school with you tomorrow?”

Lucy stopped crying. “What?”

“Mr. Pickering, would you mind if Winston visited Lucy’s class? Just for show and tell?”

Mr. Pickering stroked his chin. “Well, Winston does enjoy outings…”

Winston waggled his beard hopefully.

The next morning, Lucy walked into Mrs. Chen’s classroom with Winston on a blue leash. Every kid in the class gasped.

“Lucy,” Mrs. Chen said, her eyes wide, “is that a goat?”

“Yes,” Lucy said. “This is Winston. He’s the reason I don’t have my homework.”

The class giggled. Mrs. Chen raised her eyebrows.

“Yesterday, Winston escaped from my neighbor’s yard and ate my homework. My whole story about the skateboarding princess. All three pages.”

The class laughed louder. But then Lucy pulled out the chewed, hoof-printed remains of her homework from her backpack.

“And here’s what’s left,” she said.

Mrs. Chen examined the goat-nibbled paper. She looked at Winston, who was trying to eat the corner of her desk calendar. She looked at Lucy’s honest face.

Then Mrs. Chen started to laugh—a big, joyful laugh that made her whole face crinkle.

“Well,” she said, “in twenty years of teaching, I have never, ever had a student bring proof that a goat ate their homework! Lucy, this might be the most creative show and tell we’ve ever had. Tell us about Winston.”

Lucy beamed. She told the class all about Winston’s escape, his champion eating skills, and his strawberry-eraser burps. Winston demonstrated by trying to eat Timothy Chen’s shoelaces, Maria’s worksheet, and a crayon (which Mrs. Chen gently took away from him).

At the end of the day, Mrs. Chen gave Lucy not one, but TWO gold stars—one for the most memorable show and tell ever, and one for honesty, once Lucy rewrote her princess story.

From then on, Lucy always kept her backpack inside. Winston stayed on Mr. Pickering’s side of the fence (most of the time). And whenever anyone in Lucy’s class forgot their homework, someone would always ask, “Did a goat eat it?”

But it only happened for real once.

And that was just the way Lucy liked it.

The End

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