Georges Close Call!

Kaylene Wiegand (5th hour CP)

As the sky lightened and the cool north wind blew, Gary the goose stirs in his sleep. His eyelids slowly flitter as he wakes up. He lifted his smooth silky neck high in the air, looking at his family nestled around him. As he adjusted his feathers, he thought about the long journey they would soon be embarking on. Looking up, he caught his wife Gertrude’s eye. She too seemed to be pondering the trek. She was a great wife and mother, but she worried so much, she was already turning gray. Their five goslings all seemed to be wanderers, and once they are on their way south, it is very important that they stay with their family in the V.
Just then a splash startled the flock, causing the little geese to wake up in confusion. Gary did a quick 360-degree look, and noticed ripples in the water. He said, “Hush little ones; it is just another fish who needed oxygen.” As the goslings began waking up, Gary reminded them to go back to sleep, because soon they will need to be rested for the big trip. Gus, the youngest of the five, asked, “Daddy, will you please, please tell us a story?” Deciding that telling a story will be the best way to get his children to sleep, Gary began thinking of a story.
“Honey,” Gertrude, said, “Why don’t you tell them about their great-great-grandfather George’s close call.”
“Children, listen closely to this story. It is important for you to learn the valuable lesson that your great-great-grandfather experienced first hand,” said Gary. As he began to tell the story the family snuggled closer and Gertrude straightened the goslings ruffled feathers.
Gary first told them that great-great-grandfather George was one of ten. His parents struggled keeping an eye on all their children. Out of all of his siblings, George was the one who wandered the most. It was the night before their big fly south, and George wanted once more to swim in his favorite lake.
Leaving his family, who were sound asleep, George waddled the short distance to the lake. As he slipped into the water quietly, he was surprised at how cold the water felt. Remembering the warmth of the water in the summer, George wandered why it had to get cold. As he slowly went in small circles in the middle of the lake, all the memories of the summer flooded over him. Just then he remembered that he had not told Freddy, his frog friend that he was leaving tomorrow. George quickly swam over to Freddy’s Lilly pad. He quietly woke up his friend, who was surprised to see him. When Freddy was told that George was leaving in the morning, he wanted to go one last time to their favorite log, where the best fish and bugs are and where they race each other. This log was on the other side of the lake, but George was hungry. After they made their way over there, they ate and ate until they were stuffed. Then they raced until neither of them could feel their legs. They climbed out of the water and fell asleep on the bank.
George’s parents woke up, and realized that they only had 9 goslings instead of 10. They spent an hour looking for him and honking his name until they finally decided that they would have to leave with out him. They had waited as long as they could and they needed to get as far as they could that day. Everyone was lining up ready for take off, when they heard a faint noise. They looked back at the lake one more time, and saw George swimming as fast as he could toward them. “Wait, wait, please wait for me,” he called over and over
“So goslings, your great-great-grandfather almost didn’t make it south and he probably would’ve died,” said Gary as he finished the story. Looking up, he saw that everyone had fallen asleep, including Gertrude. As he drifted of to sleep, he thought about the fly south felling that they would all make it okay.