The other evening my phone rang. It was my friend Susan.
“Guess what I just did.” she said.
“I dunno, lemme think.” Went skydiving? – No, she’s already done that. Booked a river cruise of the Nile? Nope, she’s done that, too. “I give up,” I said. “What did you just do?”
“I walked a goose home.”
“A what? You did a what?”
“I walked a goose home.”
“How did you do that?”
“Well, I was in my garage with the door open painting a shelf and I heard this really loud “Honk!” and I turned around and there was a goose standing in the middle of the street looking at me.”
“What was it doing?”
“Nothing. Just standing there watching me.”
“What did you do?”
“Well, you know geese can be touchy, so I didn’t want to just walk over to it. I called the Sun City Patrol to see if they could do something, but they said they don’t do anything about geese.”
“Probably didn’t want to say boo to a goose,” I added.
“I guess. Well, then I called the city animal control and they asked if the goose was injured. I told them I didn’t know, that it’s just standing there in the middle of the street, but if it doesn’t move, it might be hit by a car. They told me they only could help if it was injured. I told them it’s not flying or moving, so maybe it’s hurt. They said to call them back if it got injured.”
“Oh, that was helpful — wait until it’s hurt and then call.”
“Yeah.”
“So, then what did you do?”
“I got my neighbor a couple of houses down and the two of us walked the goose back to its home.”
“Okay, I missed something here — how did you know where its home even was, and how did you get it to come with you?”
“Well, I figured it had come from the golf course — it’s a little way from here and there are always geese there. And we just sort of walked along and I talked to the goose and it followed us.”
“You talked to the goose? What did you say?”
“Oh, just stuff like, ‘good goose,’ ‘come on, goose,’ ‘nice goose.’
“And you just walked?”
“Yeah. Well, when we got to Sun City Boulevard, I had to stop traffic, but the goose kept right with us. I swear it was the calmest, most well-mannered goose ever. I wish all the kids in my classroom would follow directions like it did.”
“So how far was it, do you think?”
“Oh, gosh, I dunno. Maybe a quarter mile? By the time we crossed Sun City, we were near the golf course and we heard some geese honking. He perked right up. And just a minute later I smelled the water and I guess he did, too, because he started honking and then he flew! He just took off and flew!”
“Wow, that’s cool. So you got him back to his family.”
“I guess. At least he was back with other geese and he didn’t get hit by a car or anything.”
“You did a good deed, Susan. I’m sure his family was happy to have him back.”
“And I was happy to have him not standing in the middle of the street. I couldn’t have gone to sleep knowing he was out there, lost and maybe hurt.”
“And I’ll bet he’ll sleep pretty darn well tonight, home safe with his flock. I think that’s the very definition of lucky goose!”
“Yep, it was really good. I’ll have sweet dreams tonight, too.”
Hahah. Honk-Honk! That’s grt. I couldn’t have slept either w. a goose in the middle of my street. Good action.
Yep, she did the right thing.
Poor goose but a smart one.
I’ve heard of wild animals going to people for help before. it must have known Susan is a good person.
You had a goose story and I have a wild turkey story:
I live in independent senior housing and we can have private gardens in a completely fenced area away from the main building. Last year a wild turkey made a nest and provided us with 4 eggs but nearby there was another nest, also with 4 eggs. I happened to be out walking my dog when I saw the hen with 8 little turklets following her. I should have stayed to see how she got them out of the enclosure but it is a mystery. We now have another nest of 5 eggs — yum, what a good omelet they would make! Seriously, we are all excited that we have this new nest and will watch until time for them to break open and somehow get away.
Wow, that really is something! Thinking turkeys can fly, maybe that’s how they made it over the fence. But the little ones? Who knows. Yes, watch and tell us, please!
Great stories from Robin and Susan, with happy endings!
Yep. That goose made a good choice.
Every time I think about the goose walk I have to smile…
PS thanks for writing my story, Robin
A good story with a happy ending.
Definitely a one-of-a-kind stroll!
A real sweet story for a change from what we get most places these days.. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, It’s good to be able to share good news.
I have never had a goose follow me. Great story.
not a common occurrence, I’m sure!