The BIG BRAT Strikes Again

I just aged 10 years this morning. I went out to check on Launi, who's been lethargic the last few days. He also had a swollen eye last night. I whistle & call, but he doesn't come down the pasture. So I walk up the pasture & don't see him. Faye comes down by herself. I still don't see him & I'm almost at the top. I start looking at the ground to see if he's down. I don't see Launi. By then I was starting to panic & starting to cry. I don't see him anywhere. So I look around the rock/boulder pile & still no Launi. Did someone steal him? No, how could any one get to the back of the landlocked property? And he'd never go over or through the fence. OMG, he's dead under the trees. I start searching through the eucalyptus bushes, knowing he couldn't fit under them. Sobbing & calling his name. And then I see the BIG BRAT. He's hiding behind an oak bush (more bush than tree), peeking around the corner, ears up & eyes bright. OMG now I could kill him for scaring me into an old woman! He saunters (yes he can saunter) over & nudges me. Doesn't he know I don't have 9 lives? He follows me down the pasture, trying to bump my back the whole way. And he KNOWS that's unacceptable behavior. WHY do I love this BIG RED BRAT?!!