Geese - By Wade

When I was young, around 10 years old, the Clifford’s moved in next door to us. They brought with them a barn yard full of animals. I remember shortly after they moved in their geese adopted our yard as the yard they would protect from intruders. I remember running from the front door and hurdling the fence as the geese would chase me, nipping at the back of my legs and I would repeat the same on the return trip to the house. My dad is legally blind which means to him he can see shadows and objects that are white. One day as my dad started walking down the entry to our house he spotted what he thought was a piece of garbage and bent down to pick it up, when he picked it up he found it was a surprise left by the goose. As I watched from the front window of my house, I could see the rage that was welling up inside of him, body tensed, cheeks flushed when the offending goose began to advance flapping his wings. Dad, being an old farm boy, started chasing the white goose around the yard while trying to catch a glimpse of the goose’s white feathers, with the little vision he had, so he could grab a hold. The goose was backed into the corner of the yard when my dad grabbed him by the neck and swung it around like a lasso, then he let him go at the pinnacle. The goose flew over our fence, distanced the driveway and landed in the neighbor’s yard. The goose popped up and ran away unharmed. Mr. Clifford’s head then popped up from under the car he was working on and said "everything OK Chet?" Dad then said "yeh keep your goose on your own yard."