A Story in Three parts:
Written by Adena Paget,
Once there was a magnificent Gander
Everyone in the entire gaggle came to ogle and
admire the new offspring. Of course
there were several other families who also had new families but none were as
handsome or clever as his own dear family of five, three males and two females.
When the happy pair first observed the
fascinating miracle of each special creation appear, wet feathers and eyes that
could not focus yet and little spindly legs that were wobbly, they wondered if
they would ever be able to walk, never mind fly! They were especially taken
with the last little gosling that broke out with such determination that it
brought a giggle from both parents as they watched in anticipation. Even before
he was out of his shell he was scrambling to go. Ever after he was always
called, “The Scrambler.”
The Papa gander walked around with his head
held high and his chest puffed out because he was so proud of his wonderful
family.
One day Papa decided it was time to start
teaching them how to learn to live and survive on their own should they ever
need to. He started slowly and carefully, first teaching them how to line up
one behind the other with Mama at the end of the line to watch and make sure
everyone “fell” in line and obeyed what their proud Papa was modeling for them.
As he puffed out his chest and stretched his neck high, the little goslings all
did the same: all that is, except The Scrambler who loved to trail behind and
gawk at everything on the grass and in the sky.
It seemed he was born to dawdle and often forgot that the purpose of
these exercises was to teach him valuable lessons that might save his life one
day.
Among other interesting sights, Scrambler had
become intrigued with those small white
balls that often flew through the sky above him, well, actually they weren’t
all white, sometimes he saw bright pink or orange balls and once or twice he
even saw blue ones. He was definitely
one who longed to do his own thing and was scolded again and again for not
being attentive or listening to his Elders. This day in particular Father
warned the offspring to dive into the deep grass for cover, just in time to
protect them from one of those flying balls that the humans seemed to love to
hit with a long stick they called a “club”. The Scrambler was much too
interested in what was happening around him to hear the warning and just
managed to escape the danger in the nick of time. Sometimes these white “balls”
soared through the air at extremely high speed but he could never tell where
they were going to land. Other times they
would just skitter along the ground bouncing in or over or through the creek
where the Canadian Goose Family had settled and built their home. Papa had repeatedly cautioned his little ones
to watch and follow every movement and step he made but of course “The
Scrambler” was so interested in the attempts the humans made to hit the balls
that he forgot to watch his Papa. It was
his brave Mama that ran up and brushed him out of the way just in time. He
heard it bounce where he had been standing and if his Mama hadn’t pushed him
swiftly away, he would have been badly hurt or never even lived to discover the
marvelous things life had in store for him. He was vehemently reprimanded and
had to promise to be obedient in the future before he was allowed to continue
to join his siblings.
He hadn’t meant to be disobedient or
thoughtless but he really was intrigued by the humans that kept walking by his
home on the short grass aisles that were everywhere, and wondered why they kept
hitting these little balls with those sticks.
End of part 1:
Part 2 will continue the next weekend:
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