An Accidental Encounter by the Riverside
Emma and her husband, along with their daughter, made a bold decision to leave the hustle and bustle of London for a quieter life in the countryside. They bought a cottage, started a small farm, and planted a vegetable garden. It was the beginning of a whole new chapter. In the evenings, Emma would take their goats for a walk by the river, watching the sunset and enjoying the peace.
“Mum, it’s getting dark—where are you going with the goats again?” called their daughter, Sophie, puzzled.
“Down to the riverbank—the grass is richer there,” Emma replied. “I’ll be back in an hour, don’t worry.”
But one hour passed, then two, with no sign of her. Sophie grew uneasy and convinced her father to go searching. When they finally found Emma, they were shocked: she was sitting on the bench outside their cottage, pale and trembling, laughing one moment and crying the next.
“Mum, what happened?” Sophie asked.
“I saw something,” Emma breathed, “not a ghost… worse.”
Just an hour earlier, she had been strolling along the path to the river as usual. The goats grazed while she sat down to rest and dozed off. She woke at dusk, startled, and hurried to gather them. Of course, the stubborn animals wandered into the undergrowth, and Emma followed. Then she noticed something moving in the grass behind their last goat—long and dark…
At first, she thought it was a badger. Her heart pounded—what if it was rabid? The creature wouldn’t back off. Their goat Daisy began bleating, and Emma raised her walking stick, ready to defend her. Just then, the thing leaped—as if about to attack.
But when it was all over and she dared to look closer, she realised… it was an enormous pair of men’s underpants, tangled around the goat, caught on fishing line. Probably left to dry on a bush by some careless angler, then dragged off by Daisy.
Emma collapsed onto the grass, laughing hysterically. All the tension, the fear, the adrenaline—it burst out in that laughter. That’s exactly how her husband and daughter found her. Back home, they firmly forbade her from taking the goats to the riverside again—who knows what else might “come alive” there…
