It was an interesting sight if one would be happening to look up into the sky. Four pairs of birds approached a single point in the airspace above a crescent of trees on the edge of a small body of water. From the south, an eagle and a white goose descended first followed by a small white goose with black wingtips and a white collared dark brown goose from the east then two white geese arriving from the west and finally, the odd pair, a sparrow and a large white goose that came from the north. The geese land on the water and swim toward the tree line where the eagle and the sparrow perched on branches.
“It looks like no one saw Deke,” Daniel spoke first as Drifter started to spin himself in a lazy circle. Liza looked at him and shook her head.
“So what’s next?” Simeone asked as he nervously darted from one branch to another.
“Calm down,” Protector turned to stare at the sparrow who immediately stopped and directed his attention on the eagle.
“Let’s try to think like Deke,” Liza suggested.
“What does he think like?” Drifter laughed as he stopped his spinning and swam toward the beach. He waddled up on the firm ground, turned around and sat beneath the eagle’s tree.
“Food, safety, water,” Ack replied as he swam to follow Drifter and stepped out of the water.
“That is what we all want,” Mattias stated as he treaded in the water.
“True,” Liza said. “But how does he think. Come on guys, what do you know about Deke? Protector and Simeone you must have known him a long time. I know it is longer than any of us.”
This time Simeone responded before Protector, “He never talked about himself or his needs. It was always thought about others. Everything was all about you guys, his Flock.”
“Yes,” Protector nodded. “He was very smart. It was like he not only thought like a goose, but an eagle. When we met, it was like he was seeking me out.”
“I thought you told me you found him on top of the plateau?” Daniel asked the brown eagle with a white head.
“I did find him on that plateau, but it still felt like he was seeking me out,” Protector continued. “It was like he knew I would be there, and he was waiting for me.”
“So you were there in the very beginning?” Ack asked him.
“Yes, I guess so,” the eagle answered him. “So was Simeone.”
“That’s right,” the sparrow nodded as he spoke.
“So, you guys were for Safety,” Liza stated.
Protector shrugged when a breeze blew through the trees and the branches slowly rocked side to side causing the sparrow to flutter up then down to regrip on his perch.
“Daniel,” Mattias spoke up. “What was your role in all of this? You were there in the beginning, too.”
“My role? I was there simply by chance. It could have been anybody to challenge for leadership of The Flock,” Daniel started to explain. “It was a different flock before Deke. We were just followers of the “strongest” of us all. We just followed him wherever, and whenever, he wanted to go. There was a lot of loss from our own to our enemies and, sometimes, there was not a lot of food to eat.”
“Why?” Mattias interrupted. “Why would you follow someone like that?”
“Exactly!” Daniel replied as he swam closer to Mattias. “That was why I wanted to be the Leader so I waited until that old gray goose died so I could challenge for all that power.”
He paused and turned to face the others, “I am so glad I did!”
“But you lost,” Ack said to him.
“And I won, too!” Daniel swam toward him. “Deke beat me but then he saved me. He let me be part of change. Together, we formed a team, The Wist, to give the Leader the best information to make the best decisions for all of us. The Flock is not meant to be at the bidding of the Leader, but the Leader should be at the bidding of The Flock.”
The group was silent for a while. The eagle stretched his wings casting a broad shadow over the water below him.
“We ran into Great,” Simeone broke the moment of silence. Drifter laughed from his place on the ground below the sparrow.
“You did?” Liza turned toward Ack. “What did he have to say?
“Not much,” Ack said as he swam closer to Liza.
“He never does say much,” Protector interrupted. “All he does is eat and sleep.” Again, Drifter laughed from below the trees.
“As I was saying,” Ack continued to explain. “He told us that Deke wouldn’t be in such a small place close to trees because it was dangerous. Daniel, you got to have a better idea where he might have gone.”
Daniel shook his head before speaking, “I don’t know. He shared when he wanted to, and he didn’t share when he didn’t want to. He was funny that way.”
“Where did he go when he snuck off?” Simeone asked.
“Snuck off?” Mattias asked. “When did he ever sneak off?”
“All of the time,” Protector answered first. “I, sometimes, would find him floating in the sky way up high.”
“Sometimes we would find him hiding beneath a berry bush fast asleep,” Simeone added as he flew down to the ground beside Drifter.
“How did he do that without anyone knowing?” Mattias, again, was the one who asked.
“We knew,” Daniel replied. “The Wist knew. Sometimes, Deke and I, would “disappear” together.”
“Why?” Ack questioned this time.
“Sometimes you just got to get away,” Jake answered. “I get it. All that pressure.”
Liza swam toward the bank of the pond, waddled up onto it and sat next to Drifter. The sparrow returned to his perch in the tree.
“All this information about Deke is nice to know but is it getting us any closer to finding him?” Liza asked the group of birds surrounding her. “Where would he go?”
“I need to get away right now,” Drifter spoke up. “I am hungry. May I suggest a snack break?”
He got up from where he sat and marched back into the water and swam into the middle of the pond. At first, the others watched him duck his head beneath the surface of the water and rise with a fish in his mouth but then they followed him. The eagle rose from his perch to attain a better perspective of the water below him and the sparrow disappeared deeper into the woods. The geese spread out among the perimeter of the pond and soon found themselves enjoying fish. Protector splashed into the water, surprising the geese, but rose with a fish in his claws. He flew to the shore on the far side and dropped his catch on the ground.
Shortly afterward, the geese had settled on the ground beneath the tree where the eagle and sparrow were perched. The breeze ruffled their feathers and they were quiet.
“What is the plan?” Mattias finally broke the silence.
“What are we missing?” Ack asked.
“Food, safety, and water,” Liza said as she tucked her head into her chest. “That’s all we need.”
“Did he ever have a mate?” Jake asked the entire group but more directly to Daniel.
“I never saw him with anyone,” Protector said from above them.
“I agree with Protector,” Simeone agreed.
“No, he never had one. I don’t know why he did not as he surely could have had one,” Daniel replied.
“Maybe he hadn’t found the right one,” Liza quietly said.
“What does his love life have to do with finding him?” Mattias said in frustration.
“It’s just another part of him,” Ack tried to explain to Mattias. “We are just trying to figure out who he is to find out where he might have gone.”
“It is just wasting time,” Mattias stood ad headed back toward the water.
“You know where I would go?” Drifter spoke up from his seat. “I would go home.”
“You are nuts,” Mattias turned around and approached Drifter. “He wasn’t there when we left home.”
“Drifter has a great idea,” Daniel abruptly rose from his seat. “Protector and I were talking about the same thing on our trip together. I have an idea. Let’s go home!”
“What?” Mattias turned toward the older goose. “He is not home. We started this quest from home.”
“Not that home,” Daniel entered the water. “He might have gone home. Follow me.”
“Where are we going?” Jake asked as he spread his wings to follow Daniel and the others did the same.
“We are going to Deke’s home,” Daniel shouted back to them as he cleared the trees. “We are going to where he was hatched, his gosling home!”
Five geese fell into a V-formation with a large brown eagle with a white head above and a tiny brown speckled sparrow below them.
To be continued…
My First Stories 