The smaller, blue-gray goose with pink bill with black edges that looked like he was grinning all of the time, flew flap to flap with the larger brown feathered one beside him. The larger goose turned to look at him and shook his head at him.
“What?” Drifter asked Mattias as they glided for a moment.
“Do you know you always look like you are smiling?” Mattias asked.
“Yeah,” Drifter laughed. “I was kind of born this way.”
“You know, others don’t always take you seriously,” Mattias flapped once.
“Should they?” Drifter flapped to match his partner.
Mattias looked at Drifter saying nothing as an answer and turned back to looking forward. The sky in front of him was still a pale blue but the Bright Light was edging down in front of them. They flew in silence.
“What’s it like finding a match?” Drifter asked, breaking the silence.
This time Mattias laughed and flapped faster, rising higher into the air. The smaller goose followed as they continued to rise higher and higher. Jake began to wonder what was going on when Mattias leveled out and began to circle slightly above him.
“Well, I am going to answer your question,” Mattias said. “Look down.”
Drifter did as he was told and looked down. Far below them were blocks of large and small blotches of various shades of greens and brown with teeny, tiny specks of shadows drifting across them. A thin dark blue line squiggled across the lower part of the scene below them. They were quite far up in the air. He looked back at Mattias.
“Follow me,” Mattias said as he flapped once, tucked his wings to his sides and dove.
Drifter laughed and twirled, flipping over, pulled his wings in and followed him. He squinted his eyes as he plummeted downward. The air around him chilled him as it seemed to turn colder, and he shot through the air. The blocks of color were slowly getting larger as he didn’t dare turn his head to better see Mattias. He was really, really going fast and he loved going fast.
Mattias was streaming downward, leaning downward, trying to go faster. Until he met High, he would never, ever, have tried doing this dive from so high to go so fast. He squinted at the approaching ground, decided to push out the tips of his wings to begin to slow down and angle out of the dive. He began to slow but still was zipping down. He hoped Drifter was doing the same as he pushed his wings a little further and felt the air slightly tug the underside of his wings. That was the sign to begin to lift his head to begin to angle out of the dive. He did and the air grabbed his head. He let it do so and he spread his wings out wide and leveled out in a slightly upward angle. He looked around for Drifter.
Drifter saw Mattias from the corner of his eyes and noticed the slight flicker of his wingtips. He knew then it was time and followed his instincts pushing his wingtips outward. He felt himself begin to slow and slowly raised his head. He wanted to keep the speed as long as he could when he spread his wings to its their fullest and began to level off. He saw Mattias hovering to his left and he circles back to him.
“That was a trip!” he yelled as he pulled up next to Matttias. “But how does that answer my question?”
Mattias nodded at him and said, “High taught me that.”
“Oh,” Drifter nodded back. “I get it. Pretty cool, huh?”
Both geese looked beneath them. They were floating over a circle of trees that surrounded a small body of water.
“What should we be looking for?” Drifter broke the silence.
“Deke,” Mattias answered him.
Drifter laughed and replied as he flapped once. “I meant what should we be looking for in trying to find him?”
“Oh,” Mattias answered. “Food, water and safety.”
“What do you think?” Drifter asked looking down.
Mattias shrugged and started downward toward the water. Drifter followed and caught up with Mattias.
“Let’s fly around it first before we land, okay?” Drifter commented. Mattias nodded and spread his wings to begin a large circle above the trees. Even early in the season, the leaves of the trees would not allow them to see through them to the ground. They completed the circle, looked at each other, nodded, and headed toward the water. They landed on the water gliding until they stopped. The water rippled outward causing small splashes on the edges of the land around the water. Together they swam to the center and began to tread causing them to start a slow circle.
“Not too bad,” Drifter observed. “But I am wondering about how close the trees are to the water?”
“I agree. Too many chances for enemies,” Mattias stated as he continued his scan of the surroundings.
“Hmmm,” Drifter answered. “Let’s see if there are any fish in the water.”
Almost at the same time, the two geese looked down into the water. Mattias dipped his head, rise up with a small fish glittering in his mouth and arched his head back.
“Well, there is food here,” Drifter shook his head and looked back into the water. He spied a glint of silver, lowered his head, and grabbed the fish. As he raided his head, Mattias asked him. “Do we really expect to find him, Drifter?”
“Expect?” Drifter turned to look directly at his searching partner. “Nah. Hopeful, maybe. I hope so. I kind of liked him and I think he would be fun to be around.”
“Why does everything have to be fun to you?” Mattias asked him.
Drifter shrugged. “Why not? Shall we check out another place before it gets too dark? Maybe we could do that diving thing again, huh?”
Mattias looked at him for a moment, thinking about this goose swimming before him. He shrugged and said, “Why not? Let’s go.”
The two geese rose above the water and slowly angled toward the Bright Light beginning its way down to its resting place.
To be continued…
My First Stories 