In the far away land of Texas, in the year 2050, there lived a quiet elderly man named Tall Steve.
Steve used to live quite the rambunctious life but as the years went on he preferred to spend his time enjoying his watches and stocking his liquor cabinet.
On this fine day Steve ran into his old friend Dr. Zoomie by simple happenstance at the gas station, although it wasn't so much by chance as many gas stations had been replaced with electric charging stations years ago but for the people who enjoy their older machines, they tend to run into each other at the few stations still around.
Dr. Zoomie had an open morning as it turned out, apparently a client had rescheduled, something about experiencing an "episode" regarding 10 speed automatics and 6 speed manuals. Steve obliged and they headed to his office.
Steve sat down on Dr. Zoomie's couch, in fact it Steve couldn't beleive he had never seen the legendary couch before after all this time, he noted how plush and decadent it was and was surprised he had never taken the time to see the legendary chair before.
Dr. Zoomie told Steve that he had a game he wanted to play to see how good his memory was, Steve decided to entertain the good Doctor and agreed to it. Dr. Zoomie went behind his desk and pulled out three items. The first was a bottle of Strawberry Hill flavoured Citrus Wine.
Dr. Zoomie asked "Do you recognize this bottle"?
Steve laughed, of course he recognized it, he recalled a time many years ago sharing a bottle of that wine and discussing various liquors with friend and acquaintances.
Dr. Zoomie pulled out a watch from his desk drawer, a Rolex Explorer 2.
Dr. Zoomie asked "Do you recognize this watch"?
Steve again laughed, it was the Rolex he had gotten himself many years ago, he also recalled a time when he shared his love of watches with the same group of friends and acquaintances.
The final item that Dr. Zoomie placed on the table in front of him was some strange stuffed creature.
Dr. Zoomie asked "Do you recognize this animal"?
Steve was perplexed, he had never seen such a bizarre creature before, it had 4 legs and two small-ish horns on its head. The longer Steve looked at it the more he felt a sense of uneasiness. Something about this creature was making his whole body sweat, he could feel chills and his heart pounding in his chest.
Dr. Zoomie spoke up "Do you think you could reach out to it"?
Steve looked at Dr. Zoomie and then back at the stuffed creature. He moved his hand toward the animal but something was keeping him from fully extending it, his arm was shaking as he inched closer and closer and he stopped just before its nose.
Dr. Zoomie spoke again "You can do it Steve, just a little more"
Steve looked at Dr. Zoomie, perplexed as to what was happening, something about this creature was making every fibre of his being scream at him to turn away and get out of that room. He looked back at the creature, his hand still shaking an inch away, closed his eyes took a deep breath and with all his might willed his hand to move until he felt something soft.
Memories came flashing back, he remembered the slaughter that occurred in Lansing, Michigan all those years ago, his friends who were beaten and how he was the one of the lucky one's to survive unscathed. He looked at the stuffed creature with anger and hate, he knew what it was, what pain they had caused his friends and what he had repressed all those years.
He stood up, grabbed the stuffed goat and ripped it apart, stuffing filled the room and all went silent as Steve fell back onto the couch.
Dr. Zoomie finally spoke.
"Its good to have you back...Goat Herder".
