December 16th

Gary was still angry with Ludwig; he knew he wasn’t just a goat, but here he was again: locked up in the pen, eating grass. The fact that it was mid-December and there was still grass visible made Gary even more annoyed. On top of all that, he was a superhero and he had found a clue to the missing presents, but instead of being able to do anything about it, he was stuck here in the pen. He started cursing at the grass and Ludwig out loud, not noticing Anton, who came closer to see him.

“Stupid weather, stinky old snow-free poop.”
“You can speak?” Anton stared at the black goat.
“Yes, but I need to get out of here, we need to find who stole the presents!”
“You know where the presents are?”
Despite his surprise and confusion, the old man opened the door to the pen, put his walking stick firmly to the ground and followed the goat down the street towards the forest.
“Where are you going?” asked Anton.
“Following the scent, of course!”
“You’re not a dog; you can’t follow the scent of the presents.”
“Of course I can, goats have a great sense of smell too.”
“Since when are goats used as sniffer dogs?”
“Well never obviously, because we’re not as daft as dogs,” Gary explained.
“And you would probably eat whatever you find,” Anton replied.

Gary stuck out his tongue out at the old man and walked into the forest along a small path. It didn’t take him long to find the cave. They could hear children’s voices inside.

“I didn’t know there was a cave here and I’ve lived in this village all my life,” Anton whispered, looking around. “We don’t know for sure if they have the presents, so we can’t just storm in there. What if they only sound young, but are actually dangerous criminals? No offence, but we can’t really take on grown men…”
“Hmmmm, I think I have a plan,” Gary said.

So Anton covered Gary in moss, leaves and twigs and then hid behind a bush. Gary carefully approached the cave entrance. He hoped his voice would carry inside loud enough for his idea to work.

“I am the Ghost of Christmas and I am here to avenge the children, HA HA HA!” he shouted into the cave. His voice reverberated and echoed off the stone walls, making it sound much scarier than it really was. Then he retreated back to wait. He thought that even if they saw a goat, they wouldn’t perceive him as a danger and Anton was well hidden.

It didn’t take long for Manfred and Michael to run out of the cave, screaming, “I’M SORRY, I’M SORRY!”

When he saw it was only two young boys, Anton came out of hiding to talk to them.