A couple of years ago I offered to help my, now good friends, move into their new house which was very close to where I was living. I didn't know them at the time, but we had mutual friends who had mentioned they would be moving. I have a flexible work schedule and knew I would be around. I love helping people and serving when I can so I offered a helping hand, which to my delight, was accepted.
I showed up in the morning to help unload boxes from the moving truck, and put things away inside. Later in the evening I saw on Facebook that they had found a baby goose in their garage after moving everything in.
After a quick moment of thought, I quickly texted my new friends to offer to take the baby goose and raise it.
How hard could raising a goose be?
I lived in an apartment at the time.
An apartment on top of a grocery store (that is a story for another occasion…) and we weren't allowed to have pets. I figured this goose looked tiny enough, I could keep him in a giant bin in my apartment and we would be just fine. I named him Duck Duck. Duck Duck, the Goose.
All children laughed when they found out Duck Duck's name. The children and I, we understand each other.
We got along really well!
Although sometimes Duck Duck had a mind of his own…
So Duck Duck lived in a giant box full of wood chips. He would often knock over his water bowl. And chirped all the time.
One thing I learned about geese. They grow really, really fast. Within weeks I had a pre-teen goose living in my apartment.
Geese are also quite territorial. And they imprint. So this goose, which I had raised it from a day of it hatching, thought I was it's mother. Duck Duck literally followed me everywhere. He would waddle behind me anywhere I went, and was known for chasing and hissing others... Once he became a pre-teen goose, I tried to set him free. We drove to some trails near my house, and I set him down next to me when we got out of the car. We walked down to the lake, and Duck Duck dove in the water and swam around. I tried to get up and leave before he noticed, but Duck Duck ran out of the water squawking the whole way, and followed me all the way back to the car.
We were buddies.
One day that tiny little goose started honking.
That's when I knew it was time for him to go. I could not let one of my life stories become, 'I got kicked out of my apartment because they realized I had a pet when the goose started to honk to loud.'
I drove to a pond near my house where I knew a lot of geese lived, and I left Duck Duck with a new goose family.
Later that day I figured I should probably go check on him to make sure he was ok. Turns out geese aren't big on accepting strangers into their families.
Poor little Duck Duck was all by himself standing in some tall grass. I scooped the little guy up and wrapped him in a blanket. He rested his head on my arm for the whole drive.
My new friends, who I had gotten Duck Duck from, said he could live with them until he was big enough to fend for himself. They lived on the canal of a big lake, so when he wanted to go, he could go. Turns out Duck Duck wasn't big on goodbyes, either. One day he was just gone. He ran away from the backyard, never to return.
I like to believe he lives happily on the lake. And that this winter he migrated south very early this year, and missed the polar vortex.
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